File #: R-065-20    Version: 1 Name:
Type: Resolution Status: Approved
File created: 2/14/2020 In control: City Council
On agenda: 2/25/2020 Final action: 2/25/2020
Title: Resolution urging the United States Congress to explore and implement a carbon fee and dividend; and declaring an emergency.
Attachments: 1. Audio: Agenda Review 2/18/2020, 2. Audio: City Council February 25, 2020, 3. Audio: City Council February 25, 2020
Label
Council Members Komives and Melden

Title
Resolution urging the United States Congress to explore and implement a carbon fee and dividend; and declaring an emergency.

Summary
WHEREAS, the Toledo City Council exists to enhance the health, safety, and quality of life for all residents as determined by law and community interests; and

WHEREAS, the global atmospheric concentration of CO2 in the past sixty years reveals changes that would normally take thousands of years are now happening within decades; and

WHEREAS, climate change poses a serious threat to the City of Toledo and residents in terms of the economy, public health, and the environment; and

WHEREAS, the disruption of the region's environmental, social, and economic systems due to climate change will increase the vulnerability of Toledo's residents; and

WHEREAS, carbon is a primary element in emissions impacting public health and altering our climate, and non-renewable fossil fuels are the leading source of carbon emissions so reducing their use is necessary to slow and eventually halt the pollution of our air and the deadly changing of our climate; and

WHEREAS, a carbon fee applied at the points of carbon emissions production and fossil fuels importation will reduce the profitability and desirability of these practices; and

WHEREAS, a "carbon fee and dividend" approach is revenue-neutral, can be implemented without extensive governmental regulatory controls, and applies equally to every sector of the economy regardless of size; and

WHEREAS, all levels of government have the responsibility to act swiftly and meaningfully on the issue of climate change; NOW, THEREFORE,

Be it resolved by the Council of the City of Toledo:

SECTION 1. That the Toledo City Council strongly urges U.S. Congress to take prompt and effective measures to rapidly address climate change by promoting and encouraging a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions f...

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