Save the Climate, Share the Wealth

For several years, Peter Barnes has been peddling a Big Idea about how to design climate change legislation so that it might actually be popular. Now he might finally get his day in the sun. The idea is simple: Make companies pay for greenhouse gas emissions by auctioning off allowances -- then send Americans equal checks for their share of the amount collected. He calls it "cap and dividend," and it resembles the plan Alaska uses for sharing oil royalties with residents by sending them annual checks. An indication that Barnes's idea could become popular came last Wednesday: A version of it was introduced as legislation by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), co-chairman of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus. His plan would force the first sellers of fossil fuels -- about a thousand companies such as coal mining firms or oil companies -- to pay for carbon emissions. Those capturing and safely storing carbon dioxide emissions, something coal plants are looking at, would get credits. Not everyone would come out whole. "Those who burn more carbon will pay more than those who burn less," Barnes wrote. "If you drive a sports-utility vehicle, you'll use more sky than if you ride a bus; hence you'll pay more scarcity rent. Since your dividend is the same no matter what, you'll come out ahead if you conserve [energy] and lose money if you don't." With Obama and leading Democrats pushing for climate change this year, Barnes's ideas have suddenly moved from written theory to political reality...Wash. Post