Our friends took their family on a trip across the United States from Florida to the Rocky Mountain states in a travel trailer. They had to cut their trip short. Their eyes burned and they choked on smoke from forest fires caused by global warming.
My brother lives in Bozeman MT. I visited in 2006. I said “It's foggy today.” My brother said "It never gets foggy here. That's smoke from the fires in Idaho."
In 2021 the global warming forest fire smoke makes it difficult for me to go outside, I have asthma and when PM2.5 smoke is in the air I get asthma attacks.
That PM2.5 smoke is getting into the blood of everyone who breathes the forest fire smoke. My cousin, a firefighter, died of a rare lung disease. I believe PM2.5 smoke will cause a variety of health problems for millions of people.
That global warming smokey air once mostly in western states spans across the United States into Pennsylvania.
“The Polluters Pay Fund would make fossil fuel companies pay for the damage they’ve done by requiring them to pay a fee based on their share of historic carbon pollution that’s been emitted into the atmosphere. The money would then be used to deal with the impacts of climate change and costs of transitioning to a clean energy future.” - Daily Kos
“Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) – joined by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) – announced new legislation to require the biggest polluters to begin paying their fair share for a just clean energy transition. The legislation, titled the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act, requires the largest U.S.-based fossil fuel extractors and oil refiners and foreign-owned companies doing business in the U.S. to pay into a Polluters Pay Climate Fund based on a percentage of their global emissions. The Fund would then be used to finance a wide range of efforts to tackle climate change. The House companion legislation will be led by Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.).”
“For years, fossil fuel companies have made trillions in profits while spewing carbon pollution that wreaks havoc on our environment and harms the public health. Now, every American is paying the price – from rising health costs to increasingly expensive climate mitigation efforts for everything from flooding to droughts to sea-level rise. Our idea is simple: those who pollute should pay to help clean up the mess they caused – and those who polluted the most should pay the most. This bill will ensure the costs of climate change are no longer borne solely by the American people – and instead require big corporate polluters to pay part of the clean-up bill,” said Senator Van Hollen
“At a time of unprecedented heatwaves, drought, flooding, extreme weather disturbances and the acidification of the oceans, now is the time for Congress to make certain that the planet we leave our children and future generations is healthy and habitable,” Senator Sanders said. “For decades, the fossil fuel industry knowingly destroyed our planet to pad their short-term profits. We must stand up to the greed of the fossil fuel industry, make fossil fuel corporations pay for the irreparable damage they have done to our communities and our planet, transform our energy system and lead the world in combating climate change. That is exactly what this legislation will do.”
“For too long, the companies that pollute our planet have turned massive profits, while the American people have been left to face the health, climate, and economic consequences. Big Oil and the fossil fuel industry have played an active role in causing the worsening climate crisis, but our communities—and not these companies—are paying the price,” said Senator Markey. “That’s why our legislation, the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act, would take much-needed and long-overdue action to have fossil fuel companies pay their fair share in order to fund the federal response to the climate crisis they helped cause.”
“A relatively small number of the world’s largest corporations have been responsible, knowingly, for an outsized percentage of the pollution driving climate change,” said Senator Whitehouse. “‘Clean up your messes’ is a principle that must apply to companies for the damage they’ve inflicted on the planet. The fund would provide resources to help communities adapt to the floods, wildfires, and other natural disasters linked to climate change.”
“Fossil fuel companies have spent decades fanning the flames of climate chaos—while increasingly extreme wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and heat waves continue threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans,” said Senator Merkley. “It’s time to put the health and well-being of our families and our economy ahead of fossil fuel executives’ wish lists. That means we must finally make the fossil fuel industry pay its fair share and help us tackle this crisis head on.”
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AUGUST 04, 2021
