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Paying the tax on fossil fuels proposed by the European Commission would
be less costly to Europe as a whole than paying for the damage caused by
acid rain. Because the tax would discourage burning fossil fuels it would
also help to reduce acid rain.

These are the implications of a report released this week by the environmental
group Greenpeace. The report was written last October for Britain’s Department
of the Environment but never published.

The study, by the University of East Anglia and a British consultancy
group, Environmental Resources, calculates that in eastern and western Europe,
acid rain causes £200 to £600 billion worth of damage every
year to lakes, forests, crops, buildings and human health. The calculation
takes into account the damage caused by sulphur dioxide but ignores ozone
and greenhouse-gas emissions.

By contrast, the Community’s proposed tax would cost all energy users
£82 billion per year, with energy-intensive industry paying £25
billion or less. Greenpeace says industry gets a ‘free ride’, with taxpayers
having to pay for damages.

But this week, a joint statement by the European Federation of Industrial
Energy Consumers, in concert with the car, cement, chemicals, metals and
petroleum industries, says a Community energy tax, imposed without similar
measures worldwide, would ’cause severe economic damage.’