Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Discusses Carbon Fee, Ocean Pollution on Resources Radio
WASHINGTON, DC—Resources for the Future (RFF) released a new installment of Resources Radio: “Sen. Whitehouse Dives in on a Carbon Fee and Ocean Pollution.”
In today’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) about the politics of carbon pricing and the senator’s reintroduction of the American Opportunity Carbon Fee Act. Sen. Whitehouse provides a legislator’s perspective on climate policies, discussing how the politics of passing climate legislation has changed during his tenure. He also describes the issues facing our oceans, such as acidification and plastic pollution.
Notable quotes from the podcast:
- “By 2050, if we don't change our trajectories, there will be a greater mass of waste plastic in the ocean than there is a mass of living fish.”—Sen. Whitehouse (12:13)
- “In Canada, I think [carbon pricing is] actually a continuing success story. It's fits and starts. It's always going to be fits and starts. But more and more provinces have a price on carbon. The fight is over . . . there's a lot of carbon pricing taking place at the province level, and in some surprising provinces it's very successful. And where it succeeded is where the money's gone back to the people.”—Sen. Whitehouse (17:04)
- “Innovation is going to be driven by a price on carbon. I do not think at the end of the day there's a way to get ahead of the climate crisis without pricing carbon.”—Sen. Whitehouse (19:36)
Resources Radio is a weekly podcast series exploring timely environmental, energy, and natural resources topics, and can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and SoundCloud.
Resources for the Future (RFF) is an independent, nonprofit research institution in Washington, DC. Its mission is to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement. RFF is committed to being the most widely trusted source of research insights and policy solutions leading to a healthy environment and a thriving economy.
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed here are those of the individual authors and may differ from those of other RFF experts, its officers, or its directors. RFF does not take positions on specific legislative proposals.
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