Comment Log Display

Dear CARB, 

In 2006, I became alarmed about the climate and warming of the
globe.  In 2007, I began to be a strong proponent of Cap and Trade,
urging my friends and partners in Citizens Climate Lobby to write
to the Congress of the United States in support of Cap and Trade. 
I had not thought it through at that time and I was trusting "Big
Green", that is to say, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural
Resources Defense Council and Union of Concerned Scientists. 
However, the more I studied Cap and Trade, the more I began to
realize that it is an unworkable scheme and I even believe it to be
unfixable.  It would create volatility in energy prices, would be
complex, difficult to administer, and wide open for fraud and
manipulation.  I have read widely about Cap and Trade over the last
four years and I'm convinced that especially the offset portion
would be a shell game for big polluters and Wall Street traders.  I
have a strong fear that if California adopts a Cap and Trade
scheme, other states would follow (trusting as I did) and real
solutions to the climate crisis would be postponed a decade or
more, time we certainly do not have.  

I urge you to employ a much simpler system of reducing greenhouse
gases.  That is to say, a Fee and Dividend whereby producers of
fossil fuel, for example, would be charged a fee when the fossil
fuel comes out of the ground or through a port of entry into
California.  All the revenue would be given to citizens of
California.  This would allow them to pay for increased energy
costs.  Fee and Dividend has the additional  advantages of
simplicity, comparative ease of administration, fairness, return of
the increased energy prices to the people not the polluters, and
the avoidance of an invitation for fraud.  

Sincerely,  
Marshall Saunders