Courageous

Chile plans to enact the first carbon tax in South America

A courageous, and smart, move.

"The proposal this week from [newly elected Chilean President] Bachelet calls for charging thermal power plants with a generation capacity of at least 50 megawatts a tax of $5 per metric ton of carbon dioxide emitted. Chile is the world’s leading copper producer, and many copper mines in the country are powered by coal-fired power plants that rely on imported oil and gas to operate.

“These companies can incorporate technologies to reduce pollutants or simply change the fuel they use,” Chile’s new environmental minister, Pablo Badenier, told local media. “Once you have the taxation in place, you open a range of possibilities to reduce emissions.”

That's very much right.  And something the U.S. government needs to learn - fast.