Surrey Leader - U.S. greens worry for B.C.'s carbon tax

U.S. environmentalists will closely watch B.C.'s election results Tuesday to track the fate of the continent's first carbon tax.

As with many B.C. green groups that back the Liberal-imposed carbon tax and have criticized NDP opposition to it, there's a sense south of the border the policy measure may become politically toxic if the Campbell government falls.
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The carbon tax went into effect last July at a rate of 2.4 cents on a litre of gasoline. It rises to 3.6 cents this July and will reach 4.8 cents by 2010. Diesel and heating fuels such as natural gas are also covered by equivalent amounts based on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted.

The NDP cite government advisors who suggest the tax may have to rise to 24 cents a litre to be effective.

American Chronicle | Cap-And-Trade Energy Tax Will Cause Redistribution of Wealth among States and Working Families

WASHINGTON. D.C. – An analysis of the economic impact of the Waxman/Markey cap-and-trade bill by House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Republican staff has found that the legislation creates a regressive tax and that economic studies likely underestimate the full cost of the proposal to the economy.

Last year, then Presidential candidate Barack Obama said, "Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Businesses will have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that cost on to the consumers." While cap-and-trade defenders now try to downplay the costs, the report finds that the President´s earlier prediction is likely correct.

‘Why Al Gore is too chicken to debate me’ | spiked

Imagine if a well-known British environmentalist - Zac Goldsmith, say, or the less well-off but just as eco-committed Prince Charles - was on his way to Congress in the US to take part in a debate about climate change, only to be told at the very last minute that he was no longer welcome. That he was being denied this prestigious public-speaking platform for unspecified reasons.

Twitter / Michael G.R.

So yesterday I did a post about how global warming science DOESN'T equal Al Gore (http://bit.ly/Onzdf)... and most commenters attack Al Gore

Let's Put This Meme to Rest: Global Warming ≠ Al Gore : TreeHugger

Let's Put This Meme to Rest: Global Warming ≠ Al Gore
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 05. 6.09
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If figuring out what's really going on was the true goal, the so-called skeptics would be discussing the science (and not just repeating sound-bytes about it). But since that's hard and there's an overwhelming scientific consensus, it's much easier to reframe this as "Al Gore's thing" since people who don't like Al Gore will be strongly predisposed to also dislike his ideas (which in itself isn't very rational -- if someone you don't like says the sky is blue, that doesn't make it yellow, and a good idea should still be a good wherever it comes from).

About Me « Michael Graham Richard

Michael was born in 1982. He lives in Gatineau, Québec, Canada.

Currently a full-time journalist/blogger, he has been with TreeHugger since May 2005. Between March 2006 and January 2008, he was editor-in-chief. Since February 2008, he is editor of the Science & Technology and of the Cars & Transportation categories and that gives him more time for his first love, writing. As of August 2007, his employer is Discovery, the company that bought TreeHugger.