From: Robert Tereba

Winona

 

I was at the Menards store in Winona a couple of weeks ago checking out their water heaters. At some point I’m going to need to replace my existing gas one with either a gas or electric model or, perhaps, a tankless water heater, again either gas or electric. While considering all this, I struck up a conversation with a fellow customer.   

We discussed the pros and cons of gas and electric water heaters and our conversation soon broadened to naming a whole range of energy issues and concerns. 

How reliable is renewable energy really? How do we meet our energy needs when the sun’s not shining and the wind’s not blowing?

Will battery storage of renewable energy be robust enough to assure the reliability of our electric grid?

What are the problems with natural gas? Isn’t it cleaner than coal?

Will carbon capture and sequestration technology develop to the point that we may continue to burn fossil fuels and avoid harming our planet?

Will a new generation of nuclear energy reactors prove to be an effective, affordable, and safe source of clean energy? If so, how soon will they be operational?   

Will liquid hydrogen ultimately be the best answer to provide us with clean and reliable renewable energy?

These are legitimate questions and we don’t have answers for most of them, yet. We need to get those answers and the sooner the better. Fortunately, we can supercharge our efforts to get those answers. Here’s how. 

Let’s have the climate polluters pay a fee on the carbon content of the fossil fuels they extract and remit those funds to the American people in the form of monthly carbon cashback income. Let’s raise that fee each year, which will send a signal within our market economy that the true cost of fossil fuel energy is now being reflected in its price and we’re not going back to the dirty old days. 

Importantly to conservatives, this simple policy will not grow the size of government. Importantly to all of us, it will drive research, innovation, and investment to find the answers to the above questions which will lead to new jobs, new industries, a growing economy, and a healthier planet. You can learn more about this sensible approach at citizensclimatelobby.org/carbon-cashback/.

Time is not our friend here. So let’s not pause and ponder what to do next, like those two customers at Menards. 

Let’s contact our U.S. senators Klobuchar and Smith, President Biden, and our Representative Finstad and tell them let’s have climate polluters pay a fee on their pollution, remit the funds to American households, and let the U.S. market economy get the answers we need for a healthier planet and a brighter future for our children and grandchildren.