Prominent Republicans Push to Tax Carbon, Cut Regulations

by Dramelin 7:30 PM 0 comments

BP Plc has said a well-constructed carbon tax or cap-and-trade system would encourage energy producers and consumers to pare emissions, while Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chairman Charles Holliday has called a carbon tax the most effective and practical way of driving that change. The group envisions the carbon tax taking the place of an array of Obama-era environmental regulations that raise the cost of fossil fuels. A group of prominent Republicans and business leaders, including former Treasury Secretaries Hank Paulson and James Baker, are backing a plan to tax carbon dioxide in exchange for lifting a slew of environmental regulations. Trump also has pledged to do away with environmental regulations limiting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that exacerbate climate change. Because it generates more carbon dioxide emissions than natural gas and oil, coal would be the fossil fuel hardest hit by a tax on carbon.