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Originally Posted by Arragonis
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A government appointed but voter approved agency would be fine if all funding transactions were transparent and subject to watchdog groups. It works for such things as water quality violations. Someone does something wrong so they pay the price. The money is put into a fund that is eventually distributed to projects which improve or mitigate water quality. The same can be done with gas tax except it's a bit more tricky to allocate funds when appropriate projects would include health care for those who suffer from cancers and respiratory illness, environmental remediation from leaks and other super fund sites (usually inadequately funded), USDA for reduced crop yields, road improvements, research etc..
Kodak, the price should be set to mitigate, or attempt to mitigate the problems cause by burning fossil fuel. Fossil fuel should not like diamonds where the price is subject to the whims of a few. There are great externalized costs associated with it. By bringing the price up you can fund mitigation and deter people from buying gas guzzlers. Every time someone says "it's my right to burn as much fuel as I want" I want to punch them in the face for being ignorant or callous with the health of our community.