Continued Big Oil Bailouts Must Stop

Amidst the coronavirus crisis, oil and gas companies are pushing for a giant reduction in the royalty payments owed to U.S taxpayers, money that could pay for millions of ventilators for sick Americans.

A new analysis from Friends of the Earth shows that reducing royalty and rental payments would render huge benefits to polluters at the expense of taxpayers and the climate.

A review of data from the Office of Natural Resource Revenue finds that any action to reduce royalty payments would disproportionately benefit the biggest of the Big Oil companies. An analysis of royalty revenue from 2018 shows that 1.2 million ventilators could be bought with payments from the oil and gas industry alone.

Lukas Ross, Senior Policy Analyst with Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement in response:

If David Bernhardt pulls the trigger on a Big Oil bailout, Republicans across the country could face the consequences. America should focus on saving sick people, not rich oil companies. The GOP and Trump's push to prioritize polluters over the real needs of millions is unconscionable.

This bailout is aimed at the biggest of the failing oil and gas companies. These polluters have drilled their own way into insolvency and should not be subsidized by taxpayers.