The Benefits Of Environmental Improvement Policies

Submitted By superman112233
Words: 761
Pages: 4

Some interesting and somewhat unusual environmental-improvement policies:
Progressive Gas Tax -- In order to encourage individuals to conserve gasoline, the federal government should impose a national gas tax. My recommendation would be to begin at one cent per gallon and increase it one additional cent each month for 100 months. The gradual increase would make it less painful to Americans and would not cause an immediate change in behavior, but would phase the change in over time. However, the tax would yield significant revenue for the government from the second or third year. I would earmark this revenue to support alternative fuel vehicle purchases by the public with a subsidy of $5,000 per vehicle at the time of the initial sale of the vehicle. This would stimulate the market for alternative fuel vehicles while creating an incentive for the public to drive less or drive higher mileage cars.
Moratorium on Fossil-Fuel Power Generation Facilities -- My recommendation is to halt the development of any new electric generation facilities that would burn fossil fuels. This would mean that any increase in capacity developed by any American utility would have to be from an alternative energy source. This would stimulate the development and construction of solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, or hydroelectric generating stations. As older fossil-fuel generating stations have to be removed from service, they could not be replaced with similar technology. This would allow a gradual shift from coal, natural gas, and oil-burning plants to solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear plants. This would also cause a gradual reduction in demand for the basic fossil fuels and a gradual reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases produced in the electric power industry.
Development of Nuclear Waste Reprocessing Technology -- In order to stimulate the use of nuclear power plants by utilities, I recommend the federal government finance research to develop a less-expensive small nuclear waste reprocessing unit that can be installed on-site at a nuclear power plant. This would allow the nuclear waste to be reprocessed (with some additional uranium added) to produce new fuel rods. This would allow more reactors to come "on line" without increasing dramatically the demand for uranium ore from mining operations. More importantly, it would eliminate the most significant problem associated with nuclear generating stations (the long-term storage of the waste products). Currently waste is stored at the generating station and this technology would allow this waste to be recycled. Once the technology was developed, no new nuclear stations would be permitted without this technology.
Develop Solar-Powered Hybrid Technology for Trucks and Buses -- This project would develop a reliable hybrid system for use in delivery trucks (UPS, etc.), long-distance haulers (semi's), and both municipal and long-distance buses. The delivery trucks, buses, and the trailers pulled by the semi's would have solar panels installed on their roofs so that the batteries would remain fully charged by the sun. This would increase their range and