Carbon bills deferred
The cost of inaction on climate legislation mounts, as legislators defer two Senate “Carbon Cashback” bills (SB 1014, SB 1060). For two companion House bills (HB 1146, HB 1498) only one is still alive and not currently scheduled for a committee hearing (see capitol.hawaii.gov).
This science is clear: Increasingly severe unstable climate and weather extremes are caused primarily by our burning of fossil fuels (ancient forests).
The reality is clear: Taxing fossil fuels reduces fossil fuel use and encourages innovation, conservation and rapid development of more affordable clean energy as seen in Australia, Canada and Europe.
The economics is clear: Low- and middle-income households must be protected from cost increases as we transition away from fossil fuel use. Hawaii’s Carbon Cashback bills mandate that revenues collected from Hawaii’s fossil fuel importers be returned to Hawaii taxpayers as cash or as a tax rebate — i.e., one extra paycheck each year.
The cost of inaction to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is clear, most recently: Hawaii Island’s Friday, Feb. 17, weather emergency, and from our Pacific Ocean cousins in Aotearoa, New Zealand, as they face the human tragedies and economic disasters, still unfolding, from Cyclone Gabrielle (see rnz.co.nz for news).
To take the bold actions necessary, our Hawaii legislators need the political will that can best be created by calls and emails from their concerned constituents. We have a fast-closing window of opportunity to observe, to learn and to act, and to contact our legislators.
They need our help to pass effective, fair, fast-acting, carbon-pollution-pricing policy. The Carbon Cashback bills mentioned may not be perfect — but they are darn good!
Ron Reilly
Citizens’ Climate Lobby — Hawaii
Beach fires
Hey everybody, put out your fires. All the way out.
My neighbor recently went on a beach cleanup at Kamilo in Ka‘u. The group had to put out a fire that had come very close to an area restored with native plants.
Also, recently at Kohanaiki on a Sunday, I met a woman who has been taking care of the beach for about 50 years. She told me she had just finished putting out several fires that people had built in the sand.
How would you like to blindly walk into disguised burning coals while enjoying a walk on the beach?
For God’s sake, people, malama da damn ‘aina.
Mary Lee Knapstad
Volcano