Dear Editor:
While reading a recent letter to the editor, I thought about statements from Trump supporter and Tea Party co-founder Debbie Dooley, who now fights for solar energy. Dooley points out all forms of energy have been subsidized. Coal giveaways began in 1932 and are still massive. During the first 15 years nuclear subsidies were the largest, 10 times what solar received during its first 15 years. Oil companies drilling on public land often pay nothing, but we hear little about fossil fuel handouts.
Dooley believes the government should end all energy subsidies so all forms compete on a level playing field. The free market will determine which energy is best. But fossil fuels damage the environment and our health so those energy producers should fully pay for any cleanup or any health-related damage, says Dooley. She also challenges anyone who disagrees to move their family next to a coal-fired plant.
Dooley suggests members of the Trump Administration who are not concerned about climate security should talk to Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State, George Schultz. Schultz and another former and famously conservative Secretary of State, James Baker, went to the White House in February 2017 to gather support for a free market solution to climate change that would provide carbon dividends to U.S. citizens. The dividend would be funded by placing a tax on every ton of carbon extracted from mines and wells.
This tax would encourage more efficient use of fossil fuels and speed the transition to clean energy. Middle and lower income families would receive more in carbon dividends than they spend on higher energy costs. Imports from countries without carbon fees would face tariffs.
Nearly all economists agree that free-market solutions can efficiently move us toward clean energy and be good for our economy. As Dooley says, "We owe it to the future generations of Americans to leave them a clean environment, clean air, and clean water." So let's get rid of all subsidies and let the free market move us to clean energy.
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