| WASHINGTON
- March 23 - Taxpayers will pay
more than $26 billion in the next five years for polluting energy
programs that benefit the oil, gas, coal, and nuclear industries,
according to a report released today by a coalition of taxpayer
and environmental groups.
"Paying for Pollution, How Taxpayers Subsidize Dangerous and
Polluting Energy Programs," a report by the Green Scissors Campaign,
led by Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense and the
U.S. Public Interest Research Group, calls for the elimination of
big tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, special programs to
assist nuclear power utilities, and research programs for coal
consumption.
"Our tax dollars are pumping up the pockets of polluters," said
Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth. "And comparatively little is
being spent on cleaner, more efficient alternatives for America's
future."
Many of the companies that benefit from the Department of
Energy's fossil fuel and nuclear programs are large corporations
responsible for polluting air and water, and threatening public
health. In 1997 alone, the coal industry mined over 900 million
tons of coal that, when burned, contributed 51 tons of mercury and
2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air and water.
"Taxpayers should be outraged," said Cena Swisher of Taxpayers
for Common Sense. "While these industries received billions in
government handouts, prices for gas and heating oil have soared."
Many of the subsidies to the oil, gas, coal and nuclear industries
are outdated and were instituted decades ago during wartime or
economic depression to increase economic development. The
beneficiaries of these tax breaks and subsidies are some of the
largest, most prosperous corporations in the nation, earning a net
income of $29.8 billion in 1997.
The oil, gas, coal and nuclear companies identified in this
report as benefiting from a subset of federal energy programs
(including the Fossil Fuel Research and Development Program, the
Clean Coal Technology Program the National Ignition Facility and
the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative) made $39 million in
Political Action Committee (PAC) and soft money contributions to
congressional campaigns from 1993 to 1999, and received an
estimated $7.3 billion in subsidies. The companies thus received
186 times more than they contributed.
The focus of the 30th Anniversary of Earth Day on April 22 this
year will be the Earth Day 2000 Clean Energy Agenda, which calls on
Congress, in part, to clean up dirty energy and address the
problems of air pollution and global warming. The "Clean
Investments" plank of the Earth Day Clean Energy Agenda calls on
Congress to end coal, oil and nuclear subsidies.
"Congress should not be using our tax dollars to subsidize
pollution," said U.S. PIRG Staff Attorney Lexi Shultz. "By cutting
dirty energy subsidies, Congress can help prevent air pollution,
curb global warming, and protect taxpayers," she added.
For seven years, the Green Scissors coalition of taxpayer and
environmental groups, led by U.S. PIRG, Friends of the Earth and
Taxpayers for Common Sense, has targeted energy programs that both
waste tax dollars and contribute to health and environmental
problems. Since 1994, the Green Scissors Campaign has helped to
cut $17.4 billion from these wasteful and polluting projects.
Polluting energy programs that were not cut have cost taxpayers at
least $26 billion in the last seven years.
View the report at http://www.foe.org.
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