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Citizens Climate Lobby urges Cumberland to support carbon-fee resolution; council tables vote for more review
Summary
Don Parent of Citizens Climate Lobby presented a request for the council to adopt a resolution supporting carbon-fee-and-dividend (carbon cashback); councilors asked for more time and information before deciding.
CUMBERLAND, Maine — Don Parent, a Cumberland resident and volunteer with Citizens Climate Lobby, asked the Cumberland Town Council on Monday to adopt a resolution supporting a national carbon-fee-and-dividend policy commonly described by advocates as "carbon cashback."
Parent described the group as a bipartisan, nonprofit organization focused on national climate policy and said the proposed mechanism would charge a fee on fossil-fuel carbon and return nearly all revenue to American households. "The idea is to basically put a fee on carbon as it enters the market and return 100% of that fee or near 100% of that fee back to all American adults," Parent said during the presentation.
Parent cited national and Maine-level analyses and said 31 Maine towns and cities had adopted similar resolutions. He asked the council to consider a nonbinding resolution in support of the concept to communicate local backing to the town’s congressional delegation.
Councilors asked clarifying questions about what "signing on" would mean; Parent said the town would not be committing funds or adopting policy locally but merely expressing support by passing a resolution and forwarding it to federal representatives. "There's no commitment from the town other than to say, yeah, we listened," Parent said.
Several councilors said they supported the underlying goal of reducing emissions but wanted more time and local research before endorsing a federal policy. Concerns included effects on Maine's fuel-dependent industries and whether higher energy costs would be fully offset by dividend payments to residents. "I just can't put my signature on anything that's going to cost a state like Maine that is so heavily dependent on fuels," one councilor said.
Council discussion ended without a vote. Councilors asked staff to circulate the resolution draft and additional source material and to let Parent know the council’s timeline for further consideration.
