Letter to the editor: Taxpayers & cost of climate action

Pennsylvania Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, is correct to oppose Gov. Tom Wolf’s October executive order to direct the Department of Environmental Protection to take steps to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

First, the initiative is a carbon cap-and-trade program that does not solve the greenhouse gas problem; it merely passes the problem around a handful of participant states while consumers bear the economic cost.

Second, Wolf’s order is governance by fiat (“let it be done”), not the ballot box will of Pennsylvania voters, who will bear the economic burden of a wrong- headed decision.

Third, actions to address climate change must be science-based and predicated on facts, not knee-jerk or costly draconian measures borne by taxpayers.

Chuck Costanzo

Unity