Originally published as a letter to the editor on March 12th 2017 in The Bulletin 225.

On March 3, our climate action group, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, met Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, at his Norwich office. George Rawitscher, Dave Nelson, Eva Csejtey and Karen Lank from Mansfield attended, as did I. We urged Courtney to expand his efforts on legislation that addresses climate change impacts.

CCL proposes a carbon fee and dividend bill: a fee of $15 per ton of CO2, escalating $10 annually for 10 years. The revenue from this fee would be sent back to every household in America to help cover energy costs as we move toward a sustainable energy policy. A small amount of it would manage the fund. No tax dollars or general budget funding is needed — it is revenue-neutral.

Courtney supports these efforts and agreed we need to put a price on carbon, either in the form of a fee or cap-and-trade. The congressman also talked about the Affordable Care Act, saying it should be protected and improved, not repealed.

The ACA and climate change are related because energy choices we make contribute to health issues and loss of healthy environments and impacts to our quality of life.

Roger J. Kuhns
Mystic