As energy and climate legislation continues to founder in the U.S. Senate, one Democratic senator, Maria Cantwell of Washington, says it’s time for a new strategy. Her legislation, co-sponsored by Republican Susan Collins of Maine and praised by many for its simplicity, would make the country’s major suppliers of fossil fuels buy permits to emit C02, and return most of the proceeds to taxpayers. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Cantwell explains how her “cap-and-refund” bill avoids the potentially murky financial mechanisms of the traditional cap-and-trade approach, while at the same time winning over the public in the transition to a post-fossil fuel economy. The choice, Cantwell believes, is clear: Either the U.S. puts a price on carbon and embraces a gradual shift to renewable energy, or the country continues on its current path and becomes increasingly vulnerable to rising oil prices, falls behind China and Europe in the race for green technology, and makes little progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Interview: Senator Cantwell on Her Alternative to Cap-and-Trade
More From E360
-
INTERVIEW
Pakistan’s Solar Revolution Is Bringing Power to the People
-
Food & Agriculture
In Uganda, Deadly Landslides Force an Agricultural Reckoning
-
Energy
Why U.S. Geothermal May Advance, Despite Political Headwinds
-
Food & Agriculture
In War Zones, a Race to Save Key Seeds Needed to Feed the World
-
Climate
Lightning Strikes the Arctic: What Will It Mean for the Far North?
-
RIVERS
A Win for Farmers and Tribes Brings New Hope to the Klamath
-
Solutions
Deconstructing Buildings: The Quest for New Life for Old Wood
-
NATURAL DEFENSES
How Restored Wetlands Can Protect Europe from Russian Invasion
-
Solutions
Birds vs. Wind Turbines: New Research Aims to Prevent Deaths
-
Biodiversity
Cambodian Forest Defenders at Risk for Exposing Illegal Logging
-
OPINION
The ‘Green’ Aviation Fuel That Would Increase Carbon Emissions
-
Solutions
Out of the Wild: How A.I. Is Transforming Conservation Science