Amherst Resolution, Spring 2017
Whereas in November 2013 the Amherst town meeting approved a resolution calling for the town and the Hampshire County Retirement Board to review and identify holdings in fossil fuel companies and to preclude any new investments;
Whereas NOAA reports that globally 16 of the warmest years on record since 1880 have occurred in the last 18 years,
Whereas the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting, thus increasing ocean levels,
Whereas the number of climate refugees fleeing rising seas and drought is increasing,
Whereas Cape Cod, Boston, Logan airport and other coastal areas of Massachusetts are threatened by sea level rise,
Whereas British Columbia, Canada, enacted a carbon fee in 2008 that has reduced fuel usage, and thus carbon emissions significantly, while also benefiting the economy,
Whereas most economists agree, from conservative to liberal, that the most cost-effective way to cut carbon pollution is to enact a fee that steadily increases the price of fossil fuels,
Whereas a carbon fee and dividend program will create jobs in the renewable energy sector,
Whereas a carbon fee and dividend program will not burden lower and middle income families, as the dividends will offset higher fossil fuel costs for most of these families,
Therefore be it resolved that the Town of Amherst calls upon the Massachusetts Legislature and the United States Congress to implement a Carbon Fee and Dividend program, placing a steadily rising fee on carbon-based fuels, and returning most of the fees collected to households and businesses,
And be it further resolved that upon passage the Amherst Town Clerk shall mail copies of the resolution and vote to Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Edward Markey, Congressman Jim McGovern, Governor Charlie Baker, Speaker of the Massachusetts House Robert DeLeo, and our state Senator, Stan Rosenberg, and our state Representative, Solomon Goldstein-Rose.