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1 RESOLUTION OF THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS CALLING ON THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE BY IMPLEMENTING A PRICE ON CARBON BY WAY OF CARBON FEE-AND-DIVIDEND LEGISLATION WHEREAS, on September 5, 2017, the Board of Orange County Commissioners passed RES-2017-048, entitled “Resolution of the Orange County Board of Commissioners in Support of a Local, State, and National Goal of 100% Clean Energy by 2050 and the Creation of Green Jobs,” calling for Orange County, the State of North Carolina, and the United States to transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a 100% clean renewable energy for all energy sectors -based economy, by January 1, 2050 or sooner to avoid climate catastrophe, to promote job creation and economic growth, and to protect the Earth for current and future generations from climate catastrophe; and WHEREAS, (i) the scientific consensus that climate change is primarily due to human- caused fossil fuel emissions, (ii) the documented impacts of climate change in Orange County, the state, the country, and the world, and (iii) the public health, economic, and social justice benefits of a swift transition to a clean energy economy are summarized in the Board’s September 5, 2017 resolution; and WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners remains committed to acting locally to address climate change and its harmful impacts to the extent possible, and also believes that the United States Congress has a responsibility to act swiftly to take meaningful action on the issue at a national and international level; and WHEREAS, presently the environmental, health, and social costs of carbon emissions are not included in the price of fossil fuels, but rather these externalized costs are borne by all citizens of the world, including the residents of Orange County; and WHEREAS, assigning a cost to greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most efficient ways to discourage consumption of fossil fuels and thereby encourage development of alternatives; and WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners has heard from local volunteers representing the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a group that advocates for a carbon fee- and-dividend legislative proposal at the federal level, and has reviewed information from renowned economists and climate scientists in support of such a proposal; and WHEREAS, the proposed carbon fee-and-dividend legislation would levy an annually increasing revenue-neutral fee on the carbon in fossil fuels at the point of production and importation, collect 100% of the net carbon fees in a trust fund, and distribute those fees directly to American households in the form of a dividend that studies show would stimulate the economy (creating a projected 2.1 million American jobs over a 10-year period, and 2.8 million over a 20-year period) and would more than offset higher fuel prices for most Americans; and