Gillibrand Turns Campaign Focus To Climate Change, Floats Impact Mitigation Tax On Fossil Fuel Producers

Vox reports:

New York senator and 2020 presidential contender Kirsten Gillibrand’s new plan to fight climate change takes aim at the institutions that have caused and profited off the problem. The proposal aims to hold fossil fuel companies financially accountable for damages stemming from a warmer world.

“I’ll make climate polluters pay, transform our economy with good-paying green jobs, and protect clean air and clean water as fundamental human rights,” Gillibrand wrote in a Medium post on Thursday.

“So as president, I will create a Climate Change Mitigation Trust Fund, funded by an excise tax on fossil fuel production to generate $100 billion annually for climate mitigation projects. The fossil fuel industry — not taxpayers — will pay for projects to lessen the effects of sea-level rise, extreme weather, and other climate-related disasters.”