Four Feasible Ways Obama Can Work on Climate Change

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-21/four-feasible-ways-obama-can-work-on-climate-change.html

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1. Extend emissions limits to cover existing power plants.
On Dec. 20, a federal appeals court upheld that the Environmental Protection Agency has the power to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. With its regulatory authority better established, the next step for the EPA could be to extend its emissions limits to cover existing power plants, not just new ones.

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2. Increase the penalties for missing fuel-economy standards.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fines car manufacturers $55 per vehicle for every mile per gallon the manufacturer's fleet falls below fuel-economy standards. In recent years, the fines have hit European luxury carmakers such as Ferrari and Porsche, but the amounts are trivial compared to the purchase prices of these cars.

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3. Update the "gas-guzzler tax" to track fuel-economy standards.
The federal government collects a "gas-guzzler tax" on cars with fuel economy below 22.5 mpg. Neither the penalties nor the thresholds for the tax, however, have been updated since 1991. That means that the penalties have fallen 40 percent in inflation-adjusted terms. The gas-guzzler tax is also not scheduled to follow the increases in fuel-economy standards, meaning that this market incentive for fuel efficiency will become irrelevant without corrective action.

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4. Reform the gasoline tax.
The federal gasoline tax has stood at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993. Though direct increases in the tax may be politically difficult, there could be room for technical reforms.

[Blackhawk44]

1. how about a 'gas guzzler' tax on private jets. nt

nt.

[NickB79]

2. Too little, too late

These would have been good ideas, 25 years ago. But now, with only 5-10 years left before the Arctic is ice-free, they're a drop in the bucket.