Republican EcoRight crusader Rep. Francis Rooney continues to call for decarbonizing the economy by imposing a carbon tax. Appearing on First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross, the Florida lawmaker said he hopes a carbon tax will slow down fossil fuel production. “Let the free market price coal out of existence,” he said. “Price carbon sequester in and incentivize people to reduce the carbon footprint and use the cleanest fuels possible and ultimately, more and more renewables. Rather than a cap-and-trade regimen, which is bureaucratic albatross, or this Green New Deal, who nobody really knows what it is, but a carbon tax would be a good first start.”
Last week, Rooney was published in Politico with a piece warning fellow Republicans: “If we don’t change our party’s position soon, our voters will punish us.”
The former Ambassador has two carbon tax proposals with his name on them, the Stemming Warming and Augmenting Pay (SWAP) Act of 2019 and with Illinois Democrat Rep. Dan Lipinski, the Raise Wages, Cut Carbon Act. He is also (thanks to super member Larry H. for pointing this out) a cosponsor of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.