SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
US Spending Billions to 'Dig Ourselves a Bigger Climate Hole'
New report highlights continued fossil fuel subsidies that foster further climate crisis at taxpayers' expense
Jul 11, 2014
Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have reached levels not seen before in human history, and climate scientists have warned that the world is on track to exceed the warming threshold of 2 degrees Celsuis.
But despite his statement that "we have a moral obligation" to act on climate change, President Barack Obama has embraced an "All of the Above" energy strategy that still clings to and in fact incentivizes fossil fuels.
A new report (pdf) from research and advocacy organization Oil Change International reveals that the United States is pouring $21.6 billion into subsidies for fossil fuel exploration and production each year.
"While scientists implore world leaders to leave fossil fuels in the ground to avoid a climate catastrophe, our analysis has found that billions upon billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are going to digging ourselves a bigger climate hole every year," stated David Turnbull, Campaigns Director of Oil Change International. "Rather than putting down the shovel, our government is using even more taxpayer dollars to buy a backhoe."
The report states that since Obama took office in 2009, these subsides have increased 45 percent.
Obama has, however, included in all his budget proposals provisions to remove some of the federal fossil fuel subsidies. The report states that those left out "$12.4 billion in annual federal subsidies that directly and indirectly benefit the fossil fuel industry." Yet even those meager efforts have failed to pass Congress--perhaps an unsurprising outcome in the face of the hundreds of millions of dollars the fossil fuel industry has spent on lobbying efforts and campaign finance contributions.
From the report:
[F]or every $1 that fossil fuel companies spent on lobbying and campaign finance contributions to Congress, it got over $100 back in subsidies - that's a more than 10,000 percent return on investment.
Among the "worst of the worst" subsidies the report states are "two major U.S. subsidies aimed directly at encouraging exploration [that] totaled $136 million in 2013 alone." These were tax deduction allowances so that coal companies could deduct their exploration costs and oil and gas companies could deduct seismic survey and exploratory drilling costs from income tax payments.
Other fossil fuel enabling polices the report notes include allowing companies to deduct costs of oil spill clean-up from tax payments as a "standard business expense"--a practice that added up to $679 million in 2013, and allowing tar sands producers to be exempt from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which allows them to avoid the 8 cents per barrel tax into the Fund. This added up to 44 million, the report found.
Adding another $10.5 to $500 billion each year is the military spending in order for the U.S. to "defend overseas oil interests." Additionally, the report finds that U.S. taxpayers are stuck with the fossil fuel industry's bill for environmental and public health costs like air and land pollution, which adds up to as much as $302 billion per year.
"The science is clear that at least two-thirds of proven fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate impacts," stated report author Shakuntala Makhijani. "It is time for the U.S. government to show leadership and immediately end the massive subsidies that encourage their production."
__________________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have reached levels not seen before in human history, and climate scientists have warned that the world is on track to exceed the warming threshold of 2 degrees Celsuis.
But despite his statement that "we have a moral obligation" to act on climate change, President Barack Obama has embraced an "All of the Above" energy strategy that still clings to and in fact incentivizes fossil fuels.
A new report (pdf) from research and advocacy organization Oil Change International reveals that the United States is pouring $21.6 billion into subsidies for fossil fuel exploration and production each year.
"While scientists implore world leaders to leave fossil fuels in the ground to avoid a climate catastrophe, our analysis has found that billions upon billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are going to digging ourselves a bigger climate hole every year," stated David Turnbull, Campaigns Director of Oil Change International. "Rather than putting down the shovel, our government is using even more taxpayer dollars to buy a backhoe."
The report states that since Obama took office in 2009, these subsides have increased 45 percent.
Obama has, however, included in all his budget proposals provisions to remove some of the federal fossil fuel subsidies. The report states that those left out "$12.4 billion in annual federal subsidies that directly and indirectly benefit the fossil fuel industry." Yet even those meager efforts have failed to pass Congress--perhaps an unsurprising outcome in the face of the hundreds of millions of dollars the fossil fuel industry has spent on lobbying efforts and campaign finance contributions.
From the report:
[F]or every $1 that fossil fuel companies spent on lobbying and campaign finance contributions to Congress, it got over $100 back in subsidies - that's a more than 10,000 percent return on investment.
Among the "worst of the worst" subsidies the report states are "two major U.S. subsidies aimed directly at encouraging exploration [that] totaled $136 million in 2013 alone." These were tax deduction allowances so that coal companies could deduct their exploration costs and oil and gas companies could deduct seismic survey and exploratory drilling costs from income tax payments.
Other fossil fuel enabling polices the report notes include allowing companies to deduct costs of oil spill clean-up from tax payments as a "standard business expense"--a practice that added up to $679 million in 2013, and allowing tar sands producers to be exempt from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which allows them to avoid the 8 cents per barrel tax into the Fund. This added up to 44 million, the report found.
Adding another $10.5 to $500 billion each year is the military spending in order for the U.S. to "defend overseas oil interests." Additionally, the report finds that U.S. taxpayers are stuck with the fossil fuel industry's bill for environmental and public health costs like air and land pollution, which adds up to as much as $302 billion per year.
"The science is clear that at least two-thirds of proven fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate impacts," stated report author Shakuntala Makhijani. "It is time for the U.S. government to show leadership and immediately end the massive subsidies that encourage their production."
__________________________
Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have reached levels not seen before in human history, and climate scientists have warned that the world is on track to exceed the warming threshold of 2 degrees Celsuis.
But despite his statement that "we have a moral obligation" to act on climate change, President Barack Obama has embraced an "All of the Above" energy strategy that still clings to and in fact incentivizes fossil fuels.
A new report (pdf) from research and advocacy organization Oil Change International reveals that the United States is pouring $21.6 billion into subsidies for fossil fuel exploration and production each year.
"While scientists implore world leaders to leave fossil fuels in the ground to avoid a climate catastrophe, our analysis has found that billions upon billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are going to digging ourselves a bigger climate hole every year," stated David Turnbull, Campaigns Director of Oil Change International. "Rather than putting down the shovel, our government is using even more taxpayer dollars to buy a backhoe."
The report states that since Obama took office in 2009, these subsides have increased 45 percent.
Obama has, however, included in all his budget proposals provisions to remove some of the federal fossil fuel subsidies. The report states that those left out "$12.4 billion in annual federal subsidies that directly and indirectly benefit the fossil fuel industry." Yet even those meager efforts have failed to pass Congress--perhaps an unsurprising outcome in the face of the hundreds of millions of dollars the fossil fuel industry has spent on lobbying efforts and campaign finance contributions.
From the report:
[F]or every $1 that fossil fuel companies spent on lobbying and campaign finance contributions to Congress, it got over $100 back in subsidies - that's a more than 10,000 percent return on investment.
Among the "worst of the worst" subsidies the report states are "two major U.S. subsidies aimed directly at encouraging exploration [that] totaled $136 million in 2013 alone." These were tax deduction allowances so that coal companies could deduct their exploration costs and oil and gas companies could deduct seismic survey and exploratory drilling costs from income tax payments.
Other fossil fuel enabling polices the report notes include allowing companies to deduct costs of oil spill clean-up from tax payments as a "standard business expense"--a practice that added up to $679 million in 2013, and allowing tar sands producers to be exempt from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which allows them to avoid the 8 cents per barrel tax into the Fund. This added up to 44 million, the report found.
Adding another $10.5 to $500 billion each year is the military spending in order for the U.S. to "defend overseas oil interests." Additionally, the report finds that U.S. taxpayers are stuck with the fossil fuel industry's bill for environmental and public health costs like air and land pollution, which adds up to as much as $302 billion per year.
"The science is clear that at least two-thirds of proven fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate impacts," stated report author Shakuntala Makhijani. "It is time for the U.S. government to show leadership and immediately end the massive subsidies that encourage their production."
__________________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.