City Approves Tax to Cut Carbon Emissions

The U.S. may not have signed the Kyoto Protocol to reduce global warming, but there have been some local attempts to reduce carbon emissions. Voters in Boulder, CO have approved what may be the country’s first “carbon tax,” intended to reduce those emissions, according to the NY Times.

Boulder officials say the tax revenue will go to the city’s Office of Environmental Affairs after it’s collected by Xcel Energy, the main gas and electric utility. The money is supposed to pay for a “climate action plan,” efforts to “increase energy efficiency in homes and buildings, switch to renewable energy and reduce vehicle miles traveled,” officials say.

Residents who use alternative sources of electricity like wind power will get a discount on the tax based on the amount of the alternative power used.

While the program is similar to one Oregon started in 2001, Michael Armstrong, a policy analyst in the Portland Office of Sustainable Development, said this is the first time he’s heard of a city enacting such a tax. Armstrong says, “We are interested to see how it plays out and see what we can learn from that.”

It would be nice if other cities did likewise.

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