This is not about the effects of carbon dioxide on the relative warmth of the earth’s atmosphere, and it never was.
This is a tax on producers, and indirectly, a consumption tax on everybody. Its singular purpose is to REDUCE the amount of energy generated by combustion of carbon-based fuels, by making any such power production so very costly, that solar and wind power generation, as irregular and unreliable as they are, somewhat competitive in cost to the consumer, as compared to coal, natural gas or petroleum put to use in heat production, whether for power generation, transportation, or home heating purposes.
Neither wind or solar power will ever be much more than scientific curiosities, in the same league as perpetual motion machines or the mining of the sea for gold. The costs are simply too great for the value of the product recovered.
There is a way to use nuclear energy for power generation, with far fewer of the undesirable end products that result from using U-238 as the power source, or “fuel”. There is great potential for using a thorium-based nuclear power plant, but because it cannot be made into a fission bomb, the technology has largely been stalled for perhaps the last sixty-five years or so.
Some 97% of the energy available still remains in “spent” uranium power rods, energy that can be mostly released using the thorium-powered atomic piles, which would vastly reduce the atomic “waste” that is now moldering away in various storage dumps all over the world.
Yet this technology will not be pursued, because of superstitious fears that are fed endlessly by the anti-power crowd, those who do not WANT widespread prosperity and cheap energy, for whatever reason.
The reason?
Because when you are prosperous you can tell them to s*** in their hats and pull it over their ears and call it curls.
They can't have that. Even the most blue collar of types unless their is no rudder or keel get it when they come into wealth. And then they begin to vote differently.
More important is they may not want all that gooney-goo's for Government Programs when they could pay it themselves.
Their greatest enemy IMHO at this point is some land owner in PA, VA or OH that has been doing ok or eeking out a living and now has a net worth of over 7 digits because they have a ton of Gas on their land because they allowed it to be Fracked.
They didn't get it via via an Apparatchik at Harvard or Yale, or they never were down with the struggle. How dare they extract Wealth from Mother Gaia. Which is were real wealth come from, raw minerals & materials turned into products via engineers that develop products that make people happy. How dare they! Only Guberment can make you happy!!!
Besides you can't be a surf to the utopian control schemes, with Fracking, Thorium Pebble Reactors small enough that maybe they are even in their neighborhood, getting royalties from coal because Fluidized Beds finally took off, etc etc etc. Why Only Soro's can buy stocks in those companies or him and Bwaney Fwank are the only ones getting in on the IPO's. How dare us peasants try to make our lives better!!!