Boosted by support from the oil industry’s top lobbying group, Florida Democratic Representatives Charlie Crist and Ted Deutch held a conference call with two other Congressional Democrats on Tuesday to re-introduce their legislation that would place a price on carbon and return 100 percent of the net revenues as a rebate to American families.


What You Need To Know

  • Florida Democratic Reps Charlie Crist and Ted Deutch are re-introducing their carbon pricing measure

  • The bill aims to reduce U.S. carbon pollution by up to 45% by 2030

  • It would price carbon at $15 per metric ton of C02e and increasing the price by $10 every year

  • The proposal is a revised version of the bill that Deutch and Crist first introduced in 2018

The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act aims to reduce U.S. carbon pollution by up to 45 percent by 2030, with a net-zero target by 2050. They would accomplish this by pricing carbon at $15 per metric ton of C02e and increasing the price by $10 every year.

“Climate change is complex,” Deutch said in a Zoom conference call. “There’s no single solution, but this plan will curb carbon emissions. It will reduce pollution and it will help drive the transition to cleaner energy alternatives.”

The proposal is a revised version of the bill that Deutch and Crist first introduced in 2018, which at the time included support from another member of Florida’s congressional delegation – former Naples area Republican Francis Rooney. 

GOP support is considered crucial for any type of climate change legislation to clear Congress. However, Rooney opted not to run for reelection last year, and the bill currently doesn’t have any Republican co-sponsors.

But it does have a powerful friend now in the American Petroleum Institute (API), which for years has worked to play down the impact of climate change. The group, described by the Wall Street Journal as one of Washington’s most powerful trade associations, announced two weeks ago that it will now push for legislation to price carbon emissions across the economy.

“Confronting the challenge of climate change and building a lower-carbon future will require a combination of government policies, industry initiatives and continuous innovation,” API President and CEO Mike Sommers said in announcing the organization’s “policy framework”  

Some environmentalists remain skeptical about API’s conversion.

“I appreciate API being willing to come to the table. However, they should have come to the table 10 years ago when this was first introduced,” says Russell Conn, the former president of the Hillsborough County Democratic Environmental Caucus. “API has actively mitigated and slowed the process down to such a degree that we have to be even more aggressive to address the climate emergency.”

One criticism of carbon tax proposals has been that as the costs of polluting go up for businesses, those costs are passed down to consumers through more expensive gas and electricity prices.

Deutch says his bill prevents that by providing dividends to all Americans.

“Our plan returns one hundred percent of the net revenues back to the American people as a monthly dividend payment,” he says. ”By 2030 that would amount to $1,470 per adult, per year.”

Dr. Jessica Moerman, the senior director for science and policy at the Evangelical Environmental Network, said that it’s extremely important to her organization that the proposal “protects and safeguards low-income and middle-class Americans from price increases.”

The Biden Administration hasn’t said if a carbon tax will be part of their proposal to address the climate issue. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen did tell the Senate Finance Committee in writing back in January that both she and President Biden supports carbon pricing, but whether that will be part of his comprehensive climate plan has yet to be determined. Biden is expected to unveil his plan to cut carbon emissions by Earth Day, the Washington Post has reported. 

California Democrat Scott Peters acknowledges that putting a price on carbon is not a “silver bullet” to solve the climate issue, but stresses that it’s an “indispensable” policy decision “and has to be considered a central component of our national strategy to combat climate change.”

One Republican who has supported general support for taxing carbon is Utah Senator Mitt Romney, who has said for several years that he is open to such a proposal.

Deutch said that he has had discussions with “several” Republicans about the proposed legislation, but said that it was important to get the bill out now as serious discussions begin on potential climate legislation.

“We believe that carbon fees have to be part of those conversations,” he said.