Bernie Sanders, Keith Ellison Unveil Bill To End Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

WASHINGTON -- Progressive lawmakers Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) teamed up on Thursday to introduce legislation designed to stop subsidies to the oil, coal and natural gas industries, preserving an estimated $110 billion over the next ten years.

The measure, End Polluter Welfare Act, would do away with tax breaks, financial assistance, royalty relief, direct federal research and development and many loopholes that benefit the fossil fuel industry -- coal, oil, and natural gas -- according to the bill's authors. It has the backing of numerous groups, including Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense and 350.org, which has vowed to campaign on Capitol Hill in support of the legislation.

"If we confine this effort to Capitol Hill, the fossil fuel industry will just drown us in dollars -- they could spend $100 billion fighting this thing and still come out on top," said 350.org Executive Director May Boeve in a Thursday statement. "So we're going to take this fight to districts around the country and find other currencies to work in: our creativity, energy and grassroots organizing power."

The Yale Project on Climate Change has reported that as of November 2011, 70 percent of Americans opposed federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, including majorities of both Republicans and Independents.

"Our legislation is the most comprehensive ever introduced," said Sanders at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "It ends all tax breaks, special financing arrangements and federal research and development funding. We ensure that never again can a company like BP take a tax deduction for money spent cleaning up its own mess in the Gulf of Mexico," he added, "and we close the loophole that lets tar sands oil pipeline operators avoid paying the oil spill clean-up tax."

350.org, the green advocacy group founded by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, has launched a signature drive for voters who wish to pressure congressional representatives to support the bill.

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Comments

[Bruce Sheppard]

11:42 AM on 04/30/2013

a course in accounting would do bernie no good, he still would insist that "Subsidies" given to oil companies are coming out of the taxpayers' pockets. Bulls**t. look up the word "subsidy". how is a capital expense depreciated using the cost depletion method IAW the IRS somehow a "gift" from the government? if you bought land for $10,000 and built a house on it and sold the parcel for $100,000, would you have made a $90,000 PROFIT? this is the Crap bernie is trying to sell you, knowing you don't WANT the details. any Politician that falsely spreads the Hate in order to keep in office is a LOT bigger problem than a business trying to make a profit in a competitive market. F you, Bernie, get an education

[shankapotomus]

06:06 PM on 05/14/2012

LOL why no end the ones that give us nothing, at least oil gives us something.

[DanoX]

10:53 AM on 05/14/2012

BERNIE! BERNIE! BERNIE! BERNIE! BERNIE! BERNIE!

[Nora M]

09:21 AM on 05/14/2012

Three cheers for Bernie! It is good for the federal budget as a means of deficit reduction, so I expect all the TeaP-ers will support it vigorously. It is good for the environment as it shifts attention and resources away from an energy resource that it literally killing us. Bernie for President of the World!

[DanoX]

10:53 AM on 05/14/2012

I gave him six!

[seabreeze12]

03:29 PM on 05/13/2012

Too bad we don't have Bernie Sanders in the White House... as President!
He is a man with guts and convictions.
Not the sell out wimp that we have now... though even Obama is better than what the Republicans have to offer. A sad state of politics in this great country.

[Genders]

11:16 PM on 05/13/2012

Or Kucinich! But Bernie is not going away. He will be back big time....

[Mary Blickhahn]

11:13 AM on 05/13/2012

Wow the paid bloggers and posters are out in full force today! Remember people they get paid by the word to defend Big Oil. So in a sense they are benefiting from the subsidies. On the flip side the agreement made for these industries to get these lovely subsidies are the requirements for them to answer to a series of commissions, provide community grants, scholarships, paid internships, fellowships, and community enhancement funds. So this might be an example of big oil getting out of the commitment to the community and get to keep all the profits. Without reading the proposed legislation, we can not be sure it doesn't actually benefit them further by removing caps in spending, price gouging or the boards that over see their work. I worry they will end up having less accountability and loose the protection we have as consumers.

[OHexpat12]

04:39 AM on 05/13/2012

The Progressive Caucus should be praised for it's work on this in Congress. A bright light in a dismal D>C>

[Genders]

09:36 PM on 05/12/2012

End all breaks for fossils an nukes. We don't want more of them, and they are supposedly profitable industries. They have gotten these breaks for 50 and 100 years!!!!!!!

Plow all that an more into rooftop solar, offshore wind, waste bio fuels, commuter electric cars, and efficiency.

That's the solution: cheaper than nukes, or clean coal, or trillion dollar wars for oil, or free water for fracking exempt from the clean water regulations.

[Cross-current]

03:15 PM on 05/12/2012

Saving money is a secondary issue here. Unless we, as a society, evolve beyond our use of fossil fuels, we shall lose our competitive edge as well as our heritage of innovation. We will stagnate in both economy and in an aging, destructive technology. Far too long, we have satisfied ourselves with the ease of fossil fueled energy, while ignoring the conveniently hidden real costs to health and environment, and have believed the promises of false security from an industry built upon just those very things.

Even if we weren't faced with climate change; even if we weren't faced with rapidly depleting resources, even if we weren't faced with the health issues of fracking and oil tar sands production, it is simply time to once again find the vision that made our role in the Industrial Revolution, which catapulted us into a world power a century ago. Like our predecessors, who realized the potential of science and technology, let's finally relegate the coal and petroleum economy to the dustbin of history which contains horseshoe factories and swordsmiths.

[OneLove]

12:57 PM on 05/12/2012

Uphill battle. But this is one of my dreams.

[Hunter3203]

11:23 AM on 05/12/2012

I'd like to see an accounting of these subsidies. When I've seen claims about subsidies in the past it's included such basic things like depreciation which applies to all companies, not just the oil industry. That's not a subsidy in my book. Also, I don't see how you can pretend that BP didn't and isn't spending Billions of dollars cleaning up the Gulf. If you somehow pretend that money wasn't spent, such a company could end up with a tax bill which could bankrupt them. That might not happen to BP, but most smaller companies couldn't handle that and causing bankruptcies isn't very good public policy. I'm sure there are many true subsidies that apply only to the oil and gas industry but I suspect that the true number is substantially less than the $11 Bil/yr claimed in the article. Btw, the fact sheet itemized less than half that number.

[truthmachine]

10:15 PM on 05/12/2012

The Stockholm Syndrome of people who defend the oil companies is stunning.

[Hunter3203]

01:08 AM on 05/13/2012

Your lack of reading comprehension is stunning.

[Mary Blickhahn]

10:58 AM on 05/13/2012

The accounting of these subsidies is available to the general public. They have been published many times over. Also watch the insults, they get you kicked off of here!

[Hunter3203]

11:31 AM on 05/13/2012

The article includes such an accounting but as I pointed out totals less than half the claimed amount.  I'm not sure what insult you're referring to.  However, if someone posts a snarky comment at me don't be surprised when they get one back.

[Angus R]

06:37 AM on 05/12/2012

I would like to see a full accounting of the subsidies to the Tar Sands during the 1970's and 1980's in today's dollars. Much of that money should have been spent on efficiencies and energy conservation thus reducing our dependency on fossil fuels.

[rodjard]

11:48 PM on 05/11/2012

In todays society 'Those who have the money are right and
those who do not are wrong.'
Isn't that sad?

[Roadrun]

09:00 PM on 05/11/2012

Hey, we'll do it like this: You give me subsidies to make money and I'll give you some of it for your reelection chest. We both win.

Deal!

[forpeace]

05:31 PM on 05/11/2012

.

Today, ALEC Brings Lawmakers And Big Oil Together To Undermine Clean Energy

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/05/11/482422/today-alec-brings-lawmakers-and-big-oil-together-to-undermine-clean-energy/

.

[Genders]

09:33 PM on 05/12/2012

ff. thanks for pointing this out.,, much as it is disturbing....

[Almondo]

05:19 PM on 05/14/2012

Criminals using their greed to justify the ever growing magnitude of their crimes against the planet.