Testimony
of
Mark Rodeffer
Chair of the D.C. Sierra Club
before the
Transportation and Environment Committee
Thank you, Chairperson Cheh, and members of the committee, for hearing my testimony today. My name is Mark Rodeffer. I am the chairman of the D.C. Chapter of the Sierra Club. We are the nation’s largest environmental advocacy organization. We have have 3,500 dues-paying members here in the District of Columbia and more than 10 thousand supporters in D.C. Our members want to see local action on climate change, and that is why I am here before you today.
First, I want to reiterate that the Sierra Club strongly supports the green bank legislation before the Council. Marchant Wentworth testified earlier on behalf of the Sierra Club explaining our reasons for supporting a green bank in DC and recommending changes to the bill that we think would make the green bank more effective at promoting clean energy in DC and doing our part in the nation’s capital to combat climate change. The Sierra Club asks the Council to take those recommendations into consideration. And we ask the Council to pass legislation to create a green bank in DC.
The Sierra Club also supports the two resolutions before your committee today -- reaffirming the District's commitment to taking action on climate change and committing D.C. to work with other cities and states to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement despite President Trump pulling out of the agreement. The Sierra Club’s top priority is taking on climate change and moving away from dirty fossil fuels and toward a clean energy economy. So we strongly support the two resolutions before you today.
Given that most rational people who do not reside in the White House or Trump Tower agree we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the question is, how do we move toward that goal with ZERO action on the federal level?
One way to do that is to put a price on carbon emissions. Currently, pollution is free to the polluters. But it effects are not free for everyone else. The cost to human health and to our climate is enormous. But if we put a price on greenhouse gas emissions, we will assign to dirty energy its true cost. We will end the freeloading by polluters who make money by giving our children asthma and heating up our planet.
Taxing carbon pollution would generate millions of dollars a year. So what do we do with that money?
The Sierra Club is part of the “Put a Price On It” coalition in D.C., which has proposed a $20 per ton carbon fee. We want 75 percent of those funds to be rebated directly back to D.C. residents. Under our proposal, families would see a $500 carbon dividend each year. And because of the progressive nature of the dividend, low-income families would receive $900 a year. The remaining 20 percent of the funds would be used immediately for green infrastructure, energy efficiency, clean energy projects, and small-business tax credits.
Councilmember Cheh, you are the climate change champion here in the Wilson Building. Climate change is the Sierra Club’s top priority. We have always supported you because of your strong dedication to the environment. And today the Sierra Club asks you to support a carbon rebate program in D.C.
Thank you for hearing my testimony.