Rural Alaskans could see boost from carbon cutting program

Most rural Alaska households would benefit financially from a proposed national program designed to increase energy efficiency and move away from fossil fuels by charging a fee for carbon and returning dividends to households, a recent study by the University of Alaska Anchorage found, according to Alaska Dispatch News.

Under the proposed “carbon fee and dividend” plan, all American households would pay extra for heating, electricity, transportation and other uses of energy in which heat-trapping carbon dioxide is a byproduct. To prevent the proposed plan from being punishing, especially to low-income households, the revenue collected would be distributed back to residents on the basis of household size. The dividend to Alaska residents of the Arctic would exceed the cost of the carbon fee, said the study that was released Wednesday, coincidentally, on the same day President Barack Obama announced federal “climate resilience” funding for the Arctic.