Level the energy field

Oil train cars burning within view of the Columbia River. If you needed a wake-up call that we need to level the carbon playing field, the train derailment in Oregon is it. Our nation’s subsidy of fossil fuel needs to end.

Fracking to get the oil out is dangerous; transporting it by rail is dangerous; burning the oil is destroying the planet. There are better energy alternatives. We need to account for the true cost of fossil fuels by adding a slowly rising fee on CO2 emissions to a level that reflects the true costs to society for all fuel sources.

Citizens Climate Lobby will be meeting with our legislative leaders in Washington D.C., later this month to let Congress know that it’s time for all of us to work together and address climate change in a meaningful way.

They need to hear from us that we expect them to step up and enact a carbon fee and dividend that will bridge the partisan divide and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while remaining revenue neutral. It’s not bigger government its better government.

Check out citizensclimatelobby.org. Call your congressional representatives. Tell them it’s time.

John Covert

Spokane