
A federal carbon tax is imminent in the USA, and Exxon is pushing it - acusticthoughts
https://electrek.co/2016/08/29/a-federal-carbon-tax-is-imminent-in-the-usa-and-exxon-is-pushing-it/
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strommen
Exxon is probably pushing this because it will help their business.

The #1 "victim" of a carbon tax is coal, which accounts for about 30% of our
energy production. A carbon tax will redistribute this production to other
sources, mainly natural gas (which emits 42% less carbon). Exxon does a lot of
natural gas extraction, and virtually nothing with coal.

Exxon is also working on carbon sequestration technology. Which becomes a much
more profitable business if there is a real carbon tax.

And as far as oil goes - a carbon tax has comparatively little effect on gas
prices. $30/ton would be about 27 cents per gallon [1].

[1] [https://www.uscleanenergyfund.com/articles/carbon-tax-
simula...](https://www.uscleanenergyfund.com/articles/carbon-tax-simulator/)
(disclaimer - I made this)

EDIT - After RT-entire-FA, I see they got to this point. But I think they are
overcomplicating things with points #1,2,4,5. It's just good business for
Exxon.

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robertcope
27 cents a gallon is quite a lot.

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pkulak
Gas prices vary by that amount just from state to state.

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lmkg
And that variance is also considered "a lot."

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callcall
We cannot rely on Exxon to lobby for carbon tax legislation that will
represent the average person. Please take 2 minutes to learn about the carbon
tax and call your representatives. "Hey my name is [your name] and I want the
Representative to support the "Climate Protection and Justice Act"

Find your reps: [http://tryvoices.com/](http://tryvoices.com/) Learn more:
[http://www.carbontax.org/](http://www.carbontax.org/)

~~~
nwah1
I wasn't sure if carbontax.org was a good site, but then saw a number of the
founders worked for Move NY, and upon googling them, I found that they are
fighting for congestion pricing in NY. Which signals to me that they get it.

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tvanantwerp
The title is hyperbolic; a federal carbon tax is not imminent.

Source: I work at a tax policy nonprofit. Someone in the office probably
would've mentioned it if such a tax were around the corner.

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mseebach
That's not how "knowledge" and "information" works.

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just_a_guy_101
I feel like a lot of the people who push carbon taxes have little to no
empathy for those who live in rural communities.

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sauwan
I feel like a lot of the people who are against carbon taxes have little to no
empathy for those who live in areas of the globe most likely to become less
hospitable to life in a few decades.

And that's a lot more people who tend to be much poorer than even the poor
rural Americans.

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just_a_guy_101
People in rural communities typically earn less and consume more petroleum
based products. They don't have public transportation. A carbon tax will only
further widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

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OrwellianChild
_People in rural communities typically earn less and consume more petroleum
based products._

The argument goes, this is exactly why a carbon tax is needed. The
externalities of using fossil fuels aren't captured in the price, leading to
overconsumption. There are plenty of ways to mitigate impact, either by
applying a graduated subsidy to low-income populations, etc. Allowing folks to
continue to live in a financially unsustainable way doesn't seem to be the
answer...

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chris_va
Everyone knows we need a direct carbon tax, it's just too convenient
politically to be anti-tax. As a result, I think this is mostly a marketing
problem.

From the article, it looks like the current bill is "Climate Protection and
Justice Act of 2015". I propose instead the "Save our Children Act". Hard to
be against that.

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noiv
... unborn children ... ;)

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DiabloD3
From what I can tell, this is a political maneuvering by the oil industry to
not be nailed to the cross like the tobacco industry did: knowingly selling a
highly toxic product that is conclusively linked to many disorders including
cancer, and covering it up or minimizing it in the media for decades to
continue profiting.

Unfortunately, it's not going to work, and they will be ran out of business
through the political will of the people, just as the tobacco industry is now
having done to it.

You're not cool if you smoke, and you're not cool if you don't drive a Tesla.
It isn't often that the right thing is also the cool thing; everyone involved
should pat themselves on the back for a job well done.

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RcouF1uZ4gsC
People who compare oil and tobacco ignore the benefits side. For tobacco, the
positive benefits are very small. The oil industry on the other hand powers
our entire modern way of life.

* Ever fly in an airplane - thank oil

* Ever ride in a car or bus - thank oil

* Live in a cold climate and heat your home in winter - thank oil

* Ever use plastics - thank oil

* Ever buy something on Amazon and had it shipped to you - thank oil

* Ever buy something manufactured in another country - thank oil

* Ever use electricity on a still night - you should probably thank natural gas or coal

* Ever mail a letter - thank oil

If tobacco and tobacco products were suddenly unavailable tomorrow morning -
the world would probably be a better place

If oil and oil products were suddenly unavailable tomorrow morning - it would
probably result in the collapse of civilization as we know it and millions of
deaths

Let's not pretend oil and tobacco have anywhere near the same pro/con trade
offs.

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chadgeidel
Oil is in everything. Transportation of course, but it's in our clothes, our
houses, computers, our food (fertilizer for example), etc. It's very difficult
to point to something that oil ISN'T in (here in the US). I'm sure I'll get
responses which do.

NPR Planet Money recently did a series of podcasts about oil - it was pretty
good. #4 was the episode where they talked a bit about what oil goes into:
[http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/08/19/490408060/oil-4...](http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/08/19/490408060/oil-4-how-
oil-got-into-everything)

