I must take issue with Billy Hesterman’s commentary “Utah can’t afford a new energy tax” (Aug. 6). Rather than criticizing Reps. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Utah’s own Rep. Mia Love for caring enough about the future of our planet to start a long-overdue conversation about solutions to mitigate the increasing devastation of climate change, we should be thanking them for their courage.

Most of us realize by now that burning fossil fuels has devastating consequences being felt today and promising a dire future for our planet if left unchecked. Citizens’ Climate Lobby has been advocating for carbon fee and dividend legislation for over nine years and has commissioned a study done by the nonpartisan Regional Economic Modeling Inc. That study shows that if CCL’s proposed legislation was enacted, it would not only reduce carbon emissions significantly, but also increase GDP, create jobs and save lives. It would do this using free market solutions, not create “market inefficiencies,” and would not grow bureaucracy.

I would like to invite Mr. Hesterman to visit Citizens’ Climate Lobby at https://citizensclimatelobby.org/, study our proposal along with the REMI study, then give us his suggestions on the best ways to reduce greenhouse gases. This is a problem that can no longer be ignored.