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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 30, 2012)
Fortiani» (Obserncr May 30. 2012 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views o f the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. Page 9 O pinion New Prices Effective May 1,2010 Martin A merica ' s MOST PROFITABLE <*ORpORATfONS í Cleaning Service Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Residential & Commercial Services 0 7 Ä Minimum Service CHG $45.00 A small distance/travel charge may be applied o f B Í L U 'O ^ ÍÑ P R O F IT S y e A R AFTFR yE A R , AFT®^ yeA R ReiS CARPET CLEANING 2 Cleaning Areas or more $30.00 Each Area Pre-Spray Traffic Areas (Includes: I sm all H allw ay) k 1 Cleaning Area (only) $40.00 Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area (Hallway Extra) Stairs (12-16 stairs - With O ther Services)'. $25.00 Huge Waste of Valuable Public Resources We can’t afford energy subsidies by R yan A lexander Last year, the top six U.S. oil companies made $ 148.7 billion in profits. That works out to about $407 million a day, $17 million an hour, or $283,000 per minute. At that pace, in roughly the amount of time it will take to read this commentary, just these six oil companies will have earned about $3 million in profits. Not revenues, profits. Good for them. Profits are a good thing. They are a sign of success, and successful companies are part of a growing economy. But the flip side of this equation is the billions of dollars worth of subsidies going to these same companies every year — at a time when our national debt is so large it is becoming a drag on our economy. Credit rating agen cies already downgraded the qual ity of American debt, which will eventually make it more expensive for the governm ent to borrow money, which further increases our debt. We at Taxpayers for Common Sense have long called for the sun set of all energy subsidies, particu larly those for fossil fuel extraction. They are going to companies that don't need them, and they create future liabilities for taxpayers that usually go unnoticed. Besides the myriad subsidies that giant oil and gas companies enjoy, which cost taxpayers bil lions a year, there are the costs of cleaning up spills and other disas ters that usually get picked up by the feds. Same goes for the coal companies, some of which abandon their mines for taxpayers to clean up. That's why I joined Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. in announcing the intro duction of their bill to end special tax breaks and subsidies for oil, gas, and coal companies. This is the most comprehensive approach to ending these handouts, but it's just the latest proposal that targets energy subsidies. President Barack Obama's pro posed 2013 budget would eliminate just eight oil and gas subsidies, which would save the American taxpayer more than $38.6 billion over the next decade. Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., introduced the "Energy Free dom and Economic Prosperity Act" to cut tax credits for oil drilling, nuclear power, solar panels, and wind turbines. Sens. Jim DeMint,R- S.C., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, intro duced a companion bill in the Sen ate. Though it only cut two unnec essary subsidies to oil and gas com panies, it does suggest a bipartisan interest in finally getting rid of these wasteful energy subsidies. I sup port all these bills. But don't be fooled into thinking Congress has turned over a new leaf. My organization recently joined a diverse group of advocates de nouncing the New A lternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions or NAT GAS Act, which was looking to hitch a ride on the transportation bill. It would create new subsidies for natural gas from manufacturing and infrastructure to consumer tax credits that would carry a roughly $5 billion price tag. This would undo the progress made last year in finally cutting the etha nol subsidies. So it's worth repeating: We need to cut energy subsidies! We can't afford them, and we don't need them anyway. Congress should start with the billions in subsidies going to the oil and gas industry every year. They are obsolete, ineffective, and a huge waste of valuable public resources at a time when we are rummaging through the couch cush ions to find loose change to pay for our ballooning deficits and debt. Ryan Alexander is president o f Taxpayers fo r Common Sense, a nonpartisan federal budget watch dog. KI LL INGSWORTH STATION Commercial Condominiums ______ For Sale/For Lease______ Prime corner location at N Interstate & N Killingsworth. 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