Fortiani» (Obserncr
May 30. 2012
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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.
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