A push by a group of senior Republican statesmen for a tax on carbon to help lessen the effects of climate change is already meeting entrenched opposition from within their own party. Within hours of their announcement, influential conservative anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist took to Twitter to suggest any proposal that includes a carbon tax is dead on arrival at Capitol Hill. “Now that the GOP can repeal all the anti-energy, anti-job regs — the Left offers to trade those regs for a carbon tax,” tweeted Norquist, president of the group Americans for Tax Reform. “Nice try. No.” —Associated Press, 9 February 2017
A plan by former Republican officials to tax carbon dioxide emissions is similar to one considered by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before she launched her presidential bid. Their plan is similar to one considered by the Clinton campaign in 2015 of imposing a greenhouse gas emissions “fee,” or carbon tax. The campaign opted not to support a carbon tax after polling showed it would be “lethal in the general” election. “We have done extensive polling on a carbon tax. It all sucks,” Clinton campaign chair John Podesta wrote in a 2015 email to campaign aides. –Michael Bastasch, The Daily Caller, 9 February 2017
There’s nothing like a new administration in the White House to encourage proponents of discredited and failed plans to try, try again. That’s what happened Wednesday when a group of former Republican cabinet members and their corporate brass friends got a 45-minute meeting with top Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, to pitch… wait for it… a carbon tax. That’s right, the old idea that keeps pretending it’s new again. Carbon tax plans, where companies have to pay levies based on each metric ton of emissions they produce, have been popular with many big businesses and environmentalists alike for almost 20 years. They’re often depicted as a “free market friendly” or economically wise path to combat climate change. But there’s one problem: The free market, the economy, and most importantly, the voters really don’t like the idea at all. –Jake Novak, CNBC, 9 February 2017
Wall Street is throwing the most money at U.S. energy companies since at least 2000 amid growing confidence that the industry is emerging from the worst downturn in a generation. –David Wethe, Bloomberg, 9 February 2017
South Australia A has become a laughing stock — a state that, literally, cannot keep the lights on. Even more disturbingly, we’ve become a place where big business like BHP Billiton cite the risk posed by unreliable power supply. South Australians are seething. We have been let down by our state and federal politicians. They must display true leadership to provide a basic utility — reliable and affordable electricity. —Editorial, The Adelaide Advertiser, 10 February 2017
A world-leading scientist has warned Donald Trump may signal the end of the world — and Australia could be first to face the catastrophic consequences. Michael Mann claims Mr Trump’s relationship to “post-truth” politics and “alternative facts” is much more than just embarrassing for the US and has the potential to destroy civilisation. Sitting in an office at the University of Sydney Business School ahead of his sold-out talk this week, the Penn State professor says one only has to look at the city’s record January temperatures for proof of how dangerous the President’s attitude is (sic!). –Emma Reynolds, News.com.au, 10 February 2017
