Nishimoto’s departure
I was sad to read about the departure of Merrick Nishimoto from his position in our county government (Tribune-Herald, March 30). He’s a good person.
I don’t know Merrick well, but I want to share my high regard for him.
During the 2018 lava flow and subsequent recovery effort, I had the pleasure of working with many capable county people who were helping our community. Merrick Nishimoto was one of the most helpful, dedicated and capable among those, and a warm, caring human besides.
I don’t know the politics behind his departure. But I wish him the best, and the county would be fortunate to find a way to have him serve the community again.
Russell E Ruderman
Keaau
Support for carbon tax
This is in support of Noel Morin’s March 31 letter (Tribune-Herald, Your Views) on carbon pricing to help reverse the climate crisis.
As a member of Hawaii Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, I have been observing the increasing dangerous global weather patterns and realize that if we don’t act very soon, many of us will be affected by damage to local infrastructure, to the food supply, drinking water, our houses, and many may become migrants as vulnerable land is affected.
If Hawaii’s Legislature does not pass a carbon tax on fossil fuels, Congress can enact into law the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, which will cover all fossil fuels in the United States.
This legislation in the House of Representatives would apply an annually increasing fee on fossil fuel producers based on the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide each type of fuel releases when utilized. The raw fuels would be weighed in at processing plants, and scientists can calculate the tons of carbon dioxide that would be released for each batch, determine the carbon fee, and bill the fuel producers.
The collected fee would be shared with each U.S. household in order to offset the predicted increase in fuel prices. This would create a market-based solution which would create millions of jobs as investors would turn to clean energy technology, and push fossil fuel producers to research cleaner fuel options or switch to clean technology.
If enacted, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act would be the perfect umbrella policy to support all U.S. climate change infrastructure projects because it would speed up the switch away from fossil fuels and quickly reduce the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to pre-industrial levels, and slow down the climate crisis havoc now occurring around Earth.
Merle Hayward
Hilo
