> Is this based on anything serious? The problem is greenhouse gas emission into the atmosphere, not extraction of chemicals containing carbon from the ground.

> Is this based on anything serious? The problem is greenhouse gas emission into the atmosphere, not extraction of chemicals containing carbon from the ground. If a large portion of carbon greenhouse gas emission is from burning of extracted chemicals, and a large portion of extracted chemicals are burned it seems to me simply taxing the chemical extraction itself is a good start, as it is simple to implement. I agree that taxing exactly at the point where emission occurs is ideal, but if that's too complicated to do right away starting with something simpler with a similar result is a good idea.