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- Title
A Way Through the Impasse in U.S. Climate Change Legislation: A GHG Tax that Possesses Political and Administrative Feasibility and Conforms to International Law.
- Authors
Lowe, Sean
- Abstract
Discussions in Congress about what is generally known as Climate Change have morphed into a "third rail" of politics - where engaging such a topic can seem like an admission that massive inter-governmental cooperation and drastic cutbacks in energy usage are necessary. Unfortunately, that fear has stifled the conversation about creative solutions - because without a problem, who needs a solution? This Comment posits a novel, congressional response to Climate Change with three particular aims: political feasibility, administrative feasibility, and conformity with international law. More specifically, this proposal uniquely operates by taxing producers of "carbon-intensive goods," including importers, through two newly-created entities and procedures: the Climate Change Reduction Committee ("CCRC") sets the requisite percentage cutbacks for the relevant categories of producers and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC") exacts penalties on imported goods that fail to comport with the CCRC's mandates. Notably, the nine-member IPCC would reserve five seats for randomly chosen WTO Members while retaining four seats for United States officials. And, voilt! The United States has a partial solution to its looming national deficit through a significant new revenue source. Why not cap and trade? This Comment concludes that the governmental revenue lost, the utter dearth of any persuasive political arguments surrounding it, the additional, inherent regulatory complexities, the high probability of "cap busting," and the likely failure to comport with international law makes a cap and trade regime an inferior alternative.
- Publication
UCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, 2011, Vol 29, Issue 2, p435
- ISSN
0733-401X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5070/L5292019971