August, 27 2020, 12:00am EDT
Big Oil And Coal Is In Big Trouble Despite Billions In Bailouts
Trump’s Fossil Fuel Fantasy Is Derailing An Economic Recovery And Hurting Workers
HELENA, Montana
Just over a month ago, President Trump claimed victory for saving Big Oil, saying that he 'created it' and then he 'saved it.' But like many, many claims by the President, this fantasy is false. Despite upwards of $7 billion in taxpayer-backed Paycheck Protection Program loans, billions more in tax breaks, and waiving environmental rules by federal agencies that gave corporations a greenlight to pollute with impunity, bankruptcies, devaluations, and massive layoffs are sweeping the sector and derailing an economic recovery.
"President Trump and the corrupt lobbyists across his administration have pulled out all the stops in a desperate attempt to bail out the fossil fuel industry while Main Street and workers get table scraps. No matter how hard this administration tries to convince the American people otherwise, this has been a wasteful, futile use of taxpayer money," said Jayson O'Neill, spokesperson for Accountable.US.
Recent reports have highlighted the harsh reality of an industry that hasn't been sustainable or profitable without taxpayer subsidies for a decade:
- ExxonMobil will be removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the end of the month. Chevron is the last remaining Big Oil corporation on the Dow but is also in deep financial trouble.
- A new industry jobs report by BW Research paints another bleak picture for the fossil fuel industry. Through July, the industry has shed some 118,000 jobs or 15.5% of the sector's total employment, with oil states like Texas (39,883), Louisiana (12,287), and Oklahoma (10,727) experiencing the most jobs losses while states like Kentucky (29.4%), Pennsylvania (26.6%) Alaska (25%), and New Mexico (24.6%) saw the largest percentage drop.
- Reports out of coal-producing regions look even bleaker despite Trump's rhetoric and deregulatory fervor. Coal hasn't been economical for years, yet taxpayer subsidies have continued to flow to the polluting industry.
- The sector has also seen a wave of bankruptcies and the accumulation of debt according to a report released last month. As of the end of last quarter, 32 oil and gas corporations with debt levels approaching $50 billion have filed for bankruptcy and more are on the horizon.
- And, the forecast for domestic oil to recover to pre-COVID levels won't occur until 2022 or later, with prices hovering below $50 per barrel until at least the first quarter of 2021. Without massive taxpayer subsidies, oil fracking is not profitable at a per barrel price point that low.
At the root of the problem has been precisely the 'energy dominance' policy Trump has been fixated on that led, in part, to a glut of domestic production that is no longer in demand. But that hasn't stopped Trump's former oil lobbyist turned-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and radical extremist turned-Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management William P. Pendley from fueling the glut with more oil and gas lease sales across the West and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The administration's backward policies have also incentivized production by slashing royalty rates and suspending leases for both on and offshore production under the cover of a pandemic. While billions have flowed to polluting extractive industries under these policies, previous analysis by Accountable.US found that renewable energy received a paltry $188 million. Previous studies have shown that 'federal investment in green jobs yields three to four times as many jobs per dollar as in fossil fuels' according to reporting by Bloomberg.
While Interior is still refusing to disclose offshore royalty cuts and lease suspensions, onshore oil and gas revenues have plummeted, dropping nearly $214 million or 70% since the beginning of the year. With state and local governments budgets already reeling from the pandemic, the drastic decline in shared revenue from oil and gas drilling on public lands is going to have devastating impacts. Similarly, offshore revenue is in a steep decline, with a $357 million or 73% decline since the beginning of the year.
Not only is this revenue critical for state and local budgets to mitigate the impacts of industrial development but both onshore and offshore oil and gas revenues fund the public lands and national parks programs in the Great American Outdoors Act being touted by the administration. The Interior has yet to clarify how declining revenue due to royalty cuts and lease suspensions would impact these critical funds or commit to backfilling state and local budgets.
Accountable.US is a nonpartisan watchdog that exposes corruption in public life and holds government officials and corporate special interests accountable by bringing their influence and misconduct to light. In doing so, we make way for policies that advance the interests of all Americans, not just the rich and powerful.
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"So if you're wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is," said one critic.
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Public health advocates, federal lawmakers, and other critics responded with alarm to The New York Timesreporting on Friday that an attorney helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. select officials for the next Trump administration tried to get the U.S. regulators to revoke approval of the polio vaccine in 2022.
"The United States has been a leader in the global fight to eradicate polio, which is poised to become only the second disease in history to be eliminated from the face of the earth after smallpox," said Liza Barrie, Public Citizen's campaign director for global vaccines access. "Undermining polio vaccination efforts now risks reversing decades of progress and unraveling one of the greatest public health achievements of all time."
Public Citizen is among various organizations that have criticized President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, with the watchdog's co-president, Robert Weissman, saying that "he shouldn't be allowed in the building... let alone be placed in charge of the nation's public health agency."
Although Kennedy's nomination requires Senate confirmation, he is already speaking with candidates for top health positions, with help from Aaron Siri, an attorney who represented RFK Jr. during his own presidential campaign, the Times reported. Siri also represents the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) in petitions asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "to withdraw or suspend approval of vaccines not only for polio, but also for hepatitis B."
According to the newspaper:
Mr. Siri is also representing ICAN in petitioning the FDA to "pause distribution" of 13 other vaccines, including combination products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, polio, and hepatitis A, until their makers disclose details about aluminum, an ingredient researchers have associated with a small increase in asthma cases.
Mr. Siri declined to be interviewed, but said all of his petitions were filed on behalf of clients. Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy, said Mr. Siri has been advising Mr. Kennedy but has not discussed his petitions with any of the health nominees. She added, "Mr. Kennedy has long said that he wants transparency in vaccines and to give people choice."
After the article was published, Siri called it a "typical NYT hit piece plainly written by those lacking basic reading and thinking skills," and posted a series of responses on social media. He wrote in part that "ICAN's petition to the FDA seeks to revoke a particular polio vaccine, IPOL, and only for infants and children and only until a proper trial is conducted, because IPOL was licensed in 1990 by Sanofi based on pediatric trials that, according to FDA, reviewed safety for only three days after injection."
The Times pointed out that experts consider placebo-controlled trials that would deny some children polio shots unethical, because "you're substituting a theoretical risk for a real risk," as Dr. Paul A. Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, explained. "The real risks are the diseases."
Ayman Chit, head of vaccines for North America at Sanofi, told the newspaper that development of the vaccine began in 1977, over 280 million people worldwide have received it, and there have been more than 300 studies, some with up to six months of follow-up.
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Asked about RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine record during a Time "Person of the Year" interview published Thursday, the president-elect said that "we're going to be able to do very serious testing" and certain vaccines could be made unavailable "if I think it's dangerous."
Trump toldNBC News last weekend: "Hey, look, I'm not against vaccines. The polio vaccine is the greatest thing. If somebody told me to get rid of the polio vaccine, they're going to have to work real hard to convince me. I think vaccines are—certain vaccines—are incredible. But maybe some aren't. And if they aren't, we have to find out."
Both comments generated concern—like the Friday reporting in the Times, which University of Alabama law professor and MSNBC columnist Joyce White Vance called "absolutely terrifying."
She was far from alone. HuffPost senior front page editor Philip Lewis said that "this is just so dangerous and ridiculous" while Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan declared, "We are so—and I use this word advisedly—fucked."
Ryan Cooper, managing editor at The American Prospect, warned that "they want your kids dead."
Author and musician Mikel Jollett similarly said, "So if you're wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is."
Multiple critics altered Trump's campaign slogan to "Make Polio Great Again."
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) responded with a video on social media:
Without naming anyone, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor, put out a lengthy statement on Friday.
"The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed—they're dangerous," he said in part. "Anyone seeking the Senate's consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts."
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