Opinion: Air pollution ignores international borders. What to do?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 3, 2026

For generations, we’ve treated the atmosphere as a free dumping ground. Companies pay for labor, equipment, fuel and raw materials, but most of the costs of carbon pollution are paid by everyone except the polluter — through higher insurance premiums, wildfire damage, drought, public health costs and other economic losses. With a carbon fee companies that produce fossil fuels would based on the carbon those fuels will release. Businesses and consumers then have every incentive to find cleaner, more efficient alternatives. The money doesn’t stay in Washington. Under a carbon fee and dividend system, the revenue is returned directly to American households. And with a carbon border adjustment imports would pay a comparable carbon fee based on the pollution created to make them, allowing American manufacturers to compete. ~ Susan Atkinson,Citizens Climate Lobby