Any Climate Change initiative must also target methane as well as carbon dioxide entering the environment because methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2. Methane leaks from the petroleum industry and manufacturing are out of control and must be reduced by 90% (by the petroleum industry, I include natural gas collection, hydraulic fracturing, petroleum cracking, and transport).
An effective Climate bill should include (dates and amounts are suggestions):
1) Require that all burning of coal or coal products in the US be terminated by January 1, 2024, including steel manufacturing and prohibit the importation of new steel or electricity created by burning coal or coal products after that date.
2) No new licenses for new energy generation facilities in the United States, powered by burning fossil fuels, may be issued after one year after the law is passed. No energy generation facilities within the United States shall install new fossil fuel burners after 2040.
3) Carbon dioxide, methane, organic vapors, and halogenated organic gases must be defined as air pollutants and subject to fines for release beyond regulatory levels from commercial sources; a cap and trade system should be included. The regulations must price carbon dioxide at $100 per kg (in 2020 dollars), methane at 20 times the carbon dioxide level, and halogenated organic gases at 100 times the carbon dioxide level. Beginning in 2025, the cap must be reduced by 5% (five percent) per year relative to 2015 releases.
3a) This applies to all commercial processes and all commercial sales. This includes (but is not limited to) the sales of fuel, production of cement, and fermentation).
3b) Carbon dioxide released from burning biowaste shall be excluded. Wood harvested from living plants over 10 years old shall not be considered biowaste unless it is recycled material.
3c) Generation of pollutants by end-user burning of fuels shall be applied to the cap of the fuel provider.
3d) Generation of electricity through fuel cells is burning.
4) Phosphorus, nitrogen, sodium, potassium, all organic compounds, and all toxins are water pollutants.
4a) The release of these materials into freshwater or soil from agricultural or urban sources shall be subject to the same cap and trade system as in (3). Phosphate releases shall be priced at $200 per kg, non-biodegradable toxins priced at $100 per gram (one hundred thousand dollars per kilogram), biodegradable toxins at $1000 per kg, and others as determined by regulatory agencies.
5) Effective January 1, 2030, no new vehicles intended to be powered by burning fossil fuel may be manufactured in the United States. No vehicles manufactured after that date that burn fossil fuels may be imported into the United States, may dock in the United States, may land in the United States, or be transshipped through the United States.
5b) Vehicles burning biofuels shall be excluded from this restriction.
6) Nothing in this law is intended to override stricter regulations or stricter local or state laws.
7) Appropriation of two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000) per year in alternate energy and pollution recovery research to the National Science and Technology Foundation annually through 2050. Pollution recovery is the extraction of pollutants from the air, water, or soil to either render the material useful or store it in a non-toxic form.
7a) This funding may be used for research into processes intended to reduce solar radiation entering the lower atmosphere, provided the process does not reduce photosynthesis.
7b) Grants for research into efficient creation of fuels from waste material may be funded from this allocation.
8) Appropriation of four times the median annual income for retraining of each person whose job is lost due to changes in businesses required for the implementation of this law, for climate improvement during the 5 years prior to the passage of this law, or due to automation after the passage of this law.
9) The budget of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the United States Department of Agriculture shall be increased to monitor and advise on these provisions.
10) An allocation equal to ten percent (10%) of the budget of the Department of Defense shall be made for assistance in mitigation of droughts, floods, rising sea level, storm damage, and other weather extremes.
11) The allocation to the NOAA shall include doubling of computer power for climate and weather modeling every 4 years and doubling of the number of pollution and weather monitoring equipment by the year 2030.
1) Require that all burning of coal or coal products in the US be terminated by January 1, 2024, including steel manufacturing and prohibit the importation of new steel or electricity created by burning coal or coal products after that date.
2) No new licenses for new energy generation facilities in the United States, powered by burning fossil fuels, may be issued after one year after the law is passed. No energy generation facilities within the United States shall install new fossil fuel burners after 2040.
3) Carbon dioxide, methane, organic vapors, and halogenated organic gases must be defined as air pollutants and subject to fines for release beyond regulatory levels from commercial sources; a cap and trade system should be included. The regulations must price carbon dioxide at $100 per kg (in 2020 dollars), methane at 20 times the carbon dioxide level, and halogenated organic gases at 100 times the carbon dioxide level. Beginning in 2025, the cap must be reduced by 5% (five percent) per year relative to 2015 releases.
3a) This applies to all commercial processes and all commercial sales. This includes (but is not limited to) the sales of fuel, production of cement, and fermentation).
3b) Carbon dioxide released from burning biowaste shall be excluded. Wood harvested from living plants over 10 years old shall not be considered biowaste unless it is recycled material.
3c) Generation of pollutants by end-user burning of fuels shall be applied to the cap of the fuel provider.
3d) Generation of electricity through fuel cells is burning.
4) Phosphorus, nitrogen, sodium, potassium, all organic compounds, and all toxins are water pollutants.
4a) The release of these materials into freshwater or soil from agricultural or urban sources shall be subject to the same cap and trade system as in (3). Phosphate releases shall be priced at $200 per kg, non-biodegradable toxins priced at $100 per gram (one hundred thousand dollars per kilogram), biodegradable toxins at $1000 per kg, and others as determined by regulatory agencies.
5) Effective January 1, 2030, no new vehicles intended to be powered by burning fossil fuel may be manufactured in the United States. No vehicles manufactured after that date that burn fossil fuels may be imported into the United States, may dock in the United States, may land in the United States, or be transshipped through the United States.
5b) Vehicles burning biofuels shall be excluded from this restriction.
6) Nothing in this law is intended to override stricter regulations or stricter local or state laws.
7) Appropriation of two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000) per year in alternate energy and pollution recovery research to the National Science and Technology Foundation annually through 2050. Pollution recovery is the extraction of pollutants from the air, water, or soil to either render the material useful or store it in a non-toxic form.
7a) This funding may be used for research into processes intended to reduce solar radiation entering the lower atmosphere, provided the process does not reduce photosynthesis.
7b) Grants for research into efficient creation of fuels from waste material may be funded from this allocation.
8) Appropriation of four times the median annual income for retraining of each person whose job is lost due to changes in businesses required for the implementation of this law, for climate improvement during the 5 years prior to the passage of this law, or due to automation after the passage of this law.
9) The budget of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the United States Department of Agriculture shall be increased to monitor and advise on these provisions.
10) An allocation equal to ten percent (10%) of the budget of the Department of Defense shall be made for assistance in mitigation of droughts, floods, rising sea level, storm damage, and other weather extremes.
11) The allocation to the NOAA shall include doubling of computer power for climate and weather modeling every 4 years and doubling of the number of pollution and weather monitoring equipment by the year 2030.
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