US
Taxpayers Spend Billions On Fossil Fuel Subsidies
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| From Fake Science |
Presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) recently proposed the End Polluter Welfare Act, saying it would cut $135 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel companies over the next decade. The duo points out that “between 2010 and 2014, the oil, coal, gas, utility and natural resource extraction industries spent $1.8 billion on lobbying, much of it in defense of these expensive giveaways.”
“At a time when
scientists tell us we need to reduce carbon pollution to prevent catastrophic
climate change, it is absurd to provide massive taxpayer subsidies that pad
fossil-fuel companies’ already enormous profits,” said Senator Bernie Sanders.
The reason those
industries are heavily subsidized by United States taxpayers is simple and
simply disgusting.
Despite the knowledge that fossil fuels are contributing to rapid climate change, despite the fact that those companies are making money hand over fist and don’t need those subsidies, there are members of Congress and elected officials in states who have been bought by the fossil fuel industry and they have no intention of relinquishing the monetary benefits afforded to them by cutting off those subsidies.
The Guardian took a look at
some of the biggest subsidies benefitting specific projects.
Shell’s
proposed $4 billion plant in Pennsylvania is set for tax credits of $66 million
a year for the next 25 years. Shell purchased the site and has ten supply
contracts in place that will extend for up to 20 years.
Those
contracts include hydraulic fracturing of the Marcellus Shale. Even though it
has been proven that fracking has
caused quakes along the Ohio Pennsylvania border, even though it has
been proven that fracking has contaminated drinking water in
the state hundreds of times, and even though Shell doesn’t need all that money,
Republican Governor Tom Corbett just couldn’t walk away from $1 million in
campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry.
The
Guardian’s analysis of data compiled by Common Cause shows Shell has spent $1.2
million on lobbying in Pennsylvania since 2011. Takeaway: money trumps the
welfare of the citizens.
A
Shell spokesman responded: Shell supports and endorses incentive programs
provided by state and local authorities that improve the business climate for
capital investment, economic expansion and job growth. Shell would
not have access to these incentive programs without the support and
approval from the representative state and local jurisdictions.”
ExxonMobil’s
refinery in Baton Rouge, LA is the second largest in the United States. Since
2011, the Good Jobs First database found that the corporation has been exempted
from industrial taxes, which over a 10 year period add up to $118.9 million. Of
course, Governor Bobby Jindal has expressed pride over the accomplishment of
attracting investment from ExxonMobil to Louisiana.
I’d say it was the other
way around, since Jindal was attracted to the $1,019,777 he received from oil
and gas companies and executives during state elections campaigns between 2003
and 2013.
The
ExxonMobil spokesman said: “ExxonMobil will not respond to Guardian inquiries because of its lack of
objectivism on climate change reporting demonstrated by its campaign against
companies that provide energy necessary for modern life, including
newspapers.” (emphasis mine) Well, I guess Exxon told them!
Marathon
Petroleum is getting a subsidy worth $78.5 million in Ohio via a 15 year tax
credit for keeping 1,650 jobs and a 10 year tax credit for creating 100 new
jobs. Republican Governor John Kasich said “All we’re doing is helping them.”
In 2011, Kasich helped himself to $213,519 in contributions from the gas and
oil industry – the top recipient in the state – and promptly appointed Marathon
Petroleum’s CEO to the board of Jobs Ohio, a semi-private group “in charge of
economic growth in the state of Ohio.”
Not
surprisingly, the Marathon spokesperson had this to say: “The tax credit
recognized the enormous contribution we make to the Ohio economy through the
taxes we pay and the well-paying jobs we maintain. We have more than doubled
the 100 new jobs we committed to create.”
Stephen
Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International has a different idea.
He said, “Subsidies to fossil fuel companies are completely inappropriate in
this day and age.”
No
kidding! In 2014, it was determined that US taxpayers have shelled out $21
billion per year for fossil fuel exploration and production alone. And despite
President Obama’s call in 2009 for the G20 to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies,
those subsidies have grown by 45%.
This
past April, the president of the World Bank called for an immediate end to the
subsidies, charging that poorer countries are feeling “the boot of climate
change on their neck.”
The
most recent figures compiled in 2013 show that the oil, gas and coal industries
have had the benefit of a whopping $550 billion in subsidies – that’s over half
a TRILLION dollars. Meanwhile, subsidies to renewable energy enterprises
have been a mere quarter of that sum.
I
can’t imagine that the Sanders-Ellison End Polluter Welfare Act will gain any
traction in the current Congress. It certainly won’t act as a roadmap for
Republican run states. But I hope the Senator and Representative keep on
bringing it up and slapping Republicans in the face with it.
The truth is, this is no time to remain silent on climate change and the dangers it poses to the entire planet. This is the time to fuel the fire of clean, renewable energy that will provide good paying jobs, help to reverse the disaster of climate change and provide a better, safer and more eco-friendly environment for us, our children and generations to come.
The truth is, this is no time to remain silent on climate change and the dangers it poses to the entire planet. This is the time to fuel the fire of clean, renewable energy that will provide good paying jobs, help to reverse the disaster of climate change and provide a better, safer and more eco-friendly environment for us, our children and generations to come.
- FACT: the renewables industry is providing jobs at a faster clip than oil and gas.
- FACT: renewables will not pollute our air, our water and the earth beneath our feet
- FACT: there will always be enough wind, sun and water to provide all the energy we need
- FACT: prices on renewables are rapidly becoming cost competitive with fossil fuels
Ann Werner is a blogger and the author of CRAZY and Dreams
and Nightmares. You
can view her work at AnnWerner.info