WASHINGTON - Climate change is suddenly a hot topic again. The issue is resurfacing in talks about a possible new tax.
Superstorm Sandy, the rare and devastating Northeast storm, and a U.S. election that gave Democrats gains have put global warming back in the picture. So has the hunt for answers to a looming budget crisis.
What was once an unlikely solution is now being discussed unofficially— a carbon tax. People would pay the tax whenever they use fossil fuels like coal and oil that produce heat-trapping carbon dioixide.
Former Republican Congressman Bob Inglis said such a thing may be inevitable.
The conservative American Enterprise Institute held an all-day discussion of a carbon tax on Tuesday. On Wednesday, former Vice-President Al Gore launches a 24-hour online talkfest about global warming and disasters.
