FLAGSTAFF — In a unanimous vote at the September 5 City Council meeting, Flagstaff became Arizona’s first city to call for national revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend legislation with resolution 2017-31.
Flagstaff’s City Council has a goal to take meaningful action to combat climate change. This resolution urges Congress to assess a steadily increasing fee on carbon at the point of fossil fuel extraction; return the net revenue to American households on an equitable basis; and incorporate a border adjustment that levels the playing field for trade with countries without an equivalent tax.
The City’s Vice Mayor, Jamie Whelan noted that this resolution would be the current Council’s first action on climate change as she offered her full support, saying “it is truly an honor to sit on a council that takes climate change seriously and wants to provide not only for our citizens today, but for our citizens to come. By also developing a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, we are taking the first steps at a local level and urging our leaders to act at a national level.”
The Flagstaff chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby brought the resolution forward for the second time after an unsuccessful bid in 2015. Shawn Newell, Chapter Co-Lead said, “One of the values of Citizens’ Climate Lobby is respectful persistence. We are thrilled that Flagstaff is a leader in Arizona calling for a national carbon price. I am also personally moved by how committed everyone on the Council was to getting to a unanimous vote, and how they worked together to get that done.”
A recorded video of the September 5, 2017 Council meeting can be found here:http://flagstaffaz.swagit.com/play/09052017-2960
For more information, please contact the City’s Sustainability Manager, Nicole Antonopoulos Woodman at 928.213.2149 or nwoodman@flagstaffaz.gov