grist.org

Lower payroll or sales taxes, with maybe a small chunk (~10%-20%) of revenue going to energy/carbon research.  Best chance for success in my mind...

David, I think you overlook the probability that
"Senators whose views are going to be important"
will include some who are honestly appalled at the climate predicament we now face,
and who recognize that the Grandfathering of permits wholly undermines the efficacy of "Cap, Allocate & Trade."

The means of allocation is plainly crucial to that efficacy, and there must, surely, be senators who see this fact ?

That allocation by auction is merely a refined version of grandfathering seems hardly to be considered thus far, even here on Grist, which seems rather pathetic.

For example, what price per ton of CO2-permit can Texaco afford, when competing with say the village scale "Shenandoah Coppice Energy Company" ?

The alternative, the per capita allocation of tradeable CO2-permits known here as "Tradeable Carbon Quotas," can help to transcend this perverse outcome of permits' auctioning, in that people will, to an extent, favour more sustainable enterprises.

Is Grist really too defeatist even to discuss this option seriously ?

Regards,

Bill