Energy companies praise GOP lawmaker’s carbon tax bill

A group of companies in oil, natural gas, chemical manufacturing, utilities and other industries are praising a Republican lawmaker’s legislation to impose a carbon tax.

Companies including BP America, Shell, PG&E Corp., Dow Chemical Co., DuPont, Equinor US, National Grid and General Motors signed onto a letter Wednesday to Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) that stopped short of endorsing the bill, but called it a welcome development toward meaningful climate change legislation.

Curbelo’s bill, the Modernizing America with Rebuilding to Kick-start the Economy of the Twenty-first Century with a Historic Infrastructure-Centered Expansion Act, or Market Choice Act, would repeal fuel taxes and replace them with a $24-per-metric-ton tax on carbon dioxide emissions. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) has also signed onto it.

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“We welcome your demonstrated commitment to finding common ground on federal policies that can mitigate the effects of climate change,” the companies said, adding that the bill “represents an opportunity for both parties to engage in substantive dialogue on the risks and opportunities posed by climate change, and to craft legislative solutions that benefit citizens in many different areas of the United States.”

Many of the companies, like BP and Shell, have endorsed the general idea of a carbon tax previously.

Oil companies stand to benefit from policies to combat climate change, since they could further push away the transition from coal and toward natural gas.

Many of the other companies on the letter have aggressive internal sustainability policies that include commitments to reduce the emissions that they cause.