A Commentary on Ed Dolan’s assessment of Rep. Tonko’s Nine Principles of Climate Action

Let’s think outside of the box.

Pombriant: I applaud both of you for your interest and sincere efforts on climate change. However, I wish to offer some corrections and point out a bigger picture solution.

Apr 27

Dolan: On March 21, Rep. Paul Tonko, who chairs the House subcommittee on Environment & Climate Change, published a list of nine principles of climate action.

Pombriant: Rep. Tonko/Dr. Dolan have numbered the principles and Dr. Dolan added his comments which I label. For easier reading, I have added my comments with my name in bold. I apologize for using bold. It’s not meant to be aggressive but I have limited options.

1. Adopt Science-Based Targets for Greenhouse Gas Neutrality by Mid-Century

Dolan: We certainly need a radical reduction in GHG emissions by mid-century, but full net carbon neutrality may be an overreach. Emissions reduction, like many economic and engineering processes, tends to follow an 80/20 pattern, wherein the first 80 percent of the cleanup absorbs half the cost while the remaining 20 percent costs as much again as the first 80. Even within the last 20 percent, most of the cost is in the last few percentage points. A schedule of reductions like that given in HR 763, a fee-and-dividend approach…