Global Warming News

Already Out-of-Control Government Giveaways To Oil, Coal And Nuclear Power Could Double Under House Energy Bill

As the new home of Illinois PIRG's environmental work, Environment Illinois can be contacted with any questions regarding this news release.

Government subsidies to oil, coal and nuclear power industries could double if the U.S. Senate passes the U.S. House energy bill (H.R. 4), according to a report released today by the Illinois Public Interest Research Group (Illinois PIRG), Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and Republicans for Environmental Protection among others. "Running on Empty: How Environmentally Harmful Energy Subsidies Siphon Billions from Taxpayers" details new and existing subsidies to oil, coal, gas and nuclear industries that would total $62 billion over the next 10 years.

In "Running on Empty," Illinois PIRG estimates that existing handouts to polluting energy industries totaling $33 billion will be increased by nearly 100 percent, to $62 billion, if H.R. 4 is signed into law. Industry allies in Congress are promoting these new subsidies, despite the erosion of a four year budget surplus into a potential $100 billion deficit.

"We are witnessing a doubling in handouts to polluters - a whopping $62 billion in taxpayer money to oil, coal, gas and nuclear industries in combined new and existing subsidies," said David Weiner, spokesperson for Illinois PIRG. "With the tight budget situation we are in, there is a clear challenge to the U.S. Senate to do the right thing and avoid the route the House has taken."

The Senate is poised to begin debate on its own energy bill (S. 1766) in early February. While the legislation is currently incomplete, some dirty energy subsidies are already emerging.

Among the dirty energy subsidies in the House and Senate bills, and the federal budget, targeted by The Green Scissors Report are:

· The Department of Energy's oil and coal research and development programs, which are projected to cost taxpayers almost $2.5 billion over the next ten years. These programs subsidize mature, polluting industries and increase American reliance on energy supplies that represent the greatest source of smog, soot and global warming pollution. For example, oil and coal-fired power plants released 94,650,417 tons of carbon dioxide in Illinois.

· The Price-Anderson Act that props up an ailing nuclear industry that produces deadly waste for which there is no safe disposal option. Price-Anderson represents a multi-billion dollar insurance subsidy that shields nuclear power plants from the full cost of a nuclear accident. Corporations like Commonwealth Edison, the operator of the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant in Illinois, would not be required to fully compensate citizens of the Quad Cities area in the event of a serious nuclear accident.

Many of these programs, used by some of the nation's biggest corporations, have been subsidized by federal taxpayer dollars for decades. "The report documents some of the tax breaks and subsidies that energy giants such as Enron, which paid no corporate income taxes in four of the last five years, lobbied for and got in the House energy bill. Enron would benefit enormously from tax breaks on pipelines as well as royalty subsidies to industry that, combined, total $4.9 billion over ten years," said Brain Metcalf, Environmental Associate for Illinois PIRG.

"Adding insult to injury, the companies are using taxpayer money in ways that devastate our water, our air, our land and our health," said Gerald Neff, chairperson of the Bettendorf-based Eagle View Chapter of the Sierra Club. "For example, in Illinois citizens reported an estimated 33,100 asthma attacks, 283,000 lost workdays and a mortality rate of 24.8 per 100,000 people from power plant pollution," added Neff.

"These handouts reward the energy polluters that have devastated our environment at taxpayer expense," said Weiner. "We urge the Senate to move us toward a cleaner, smarter energy future and to reject the type of thinking behind H.R. 4."

Over the last eight years, the Green Scissors Coalition has helped to cut or eliminate $26 billion in environmentally harmful spending programs from the federal budget.