Researchers at Oil Change International (OCI) set out to quantify the level of US fossil fuel subsidies, but before we get to their results, a few important caveats. ( Photo by Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images) US fossil fuel production is subsidized to the tune of $20 billion annually We’re not even counting that in the subsidies, though. First: What gets subsidized, and how much? Here’s Trump allowing mines to pollute more. Together, they paint a clear picture: The profits of US fossil fuels are built on a foundation of government assistance.Īll right then. And the third shows how thoroughly the US coal industry is propped up by regulatory policy. The second shows the effect those subsidies have on oil and gas production. The first does the yeoman’s work of tallying up federal and state energy subsidies. Let’s talk about “certain regulations and subsidies” - namely, the ones propping up US fossil fuels. It is support offered to challengers - typically temporary, fragmentary, and politically uncertain support - that is forever in the spotlight. The supports offered to fossil fuels are so old and familiar, they fade into the background.
Yet this fact, so inconvenient to the conservative worldview, never seems to sink in to the energy debate in a serious way. It is in keeping with a long conservative tradition of challenging the economic wisdom and effectiveness of energy subsidies.Įnergy analysts have made the point again and again that fossil fuels, not renewable energy, most benefit from supportive public policy. “Certain regulations and subsidies,” Energy Secretary Rick Perry has said, “are having a large impact on the functioning of markets, and thereby challenging our power generation mix.” You can guess which regulations and subsidies he’s talking about. The coal industry and its allies in the Trump administration have devoted considerable energy to arguing that subsidies to renewable energy have distorted energy markets and helped drive coal out of business.
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