Posted on 11/18/2011 1:28:28 PM PST by MichCapCon
There is a growing movement to end all federal subsidies for energy as the country’s national debt nears $15 trillion.
One report released by a coalition of free-market analysts estimated there was $380 billion in government subsidies for energy in 2011.
The Green Scissors 2011 report estimated that $53 billion was lost in oil and gas revenues from royalty-free leases in federal waters and another $6 billion a year in ethanol tax credits.
Americans for Prosperity came to Michigan this Saturday as part of its Energy for America Tour. The tour continues Monday with stops in Portage at noon and Benton Harbor at 5:30 p.m. AFP’s website described The Energy for America tour as about “getting government out of the free market.”
GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry has pledged to end all federal subsidies for energy.
Daniel Kish, senior vice president for policy at the nonprofit Institute for Energy Research in Washington, D.C., said the end of all federal energy subsidies is more likely than ever, “because it is quite evident we are running out of money.”
Kish said ending federal energy subsidies would lead to “consumer-based decisions,” not “big-government-based decisions.”
Alternative energy wouldn’t exist without subsidies and mandates, Kish said.
“Alternative energy is a creation of politicians and taxpayers’ money, not taxpayers exercising choice in a free economy,” Kish said in an email.
I am in favor of ending all subsidies for all sectors. No more NPR, PBS, Planned Parenthood.... no more forced to join a trade group like the Egg Board, Orange Growers Association or whatever, no more licenses to grow peanuts or sugar.....
no more favoritism
The only thing that is going to end all energy subsidies is a bunch of energy-subsidy recipients dangling from ropes.
I’m absolutely in favor of this. Get rid off all the energy subsidies, and then completely shut down and disband the Department of Energy. We don’t need it, and we can’t afford it.
I’d like to eliminate energy subsidies, agricultural subsidies, and every other subsidy I can think of from our government to those with slick (and generous) lobbyists. That’s just a start toward responsible government, but it would be a pleasant start. If Newt is serious on this, I hope it gives him a boost. Even if he’s not, I hope others take up that cause. It is irresponsible to leave our kids with the debt we are building up with government playing Santa Clause.
I'm enjoying that mental image very much. Thank you.
Politicians will bribe you with your own money as long as you let them.
Are you trying to tell me that the Dept.of Energy didn't produce millions of barrels of high grade crude oil at $10.00 a barrel? Color me shocked!
End ALL subsidies this afternoon. They are malignant and in a world where some folks starve, making fuel out of perfectly good animal feed while we have centuries worth of petroleum in our own ground is absurd.
Below will give you an idea of how much we subsides energy.
• natural gas - 25 cents per megawatt hour of electricity produced
• Coal - 44 cents per megawatt hour
• Nuclear $1.59 per megawatt hour
• Wind Energy $23.37 per megawatt hour
• Solar Energy $24.34 per megawatt hour
• Biofuels $1.78 per gal
day late and a trillion short.
As of yesterday the US hit $15 trillion in debt and that surpasses our GDP!! Re the gov subsidies to green energy companies; when there are no more horses in the coral why close the gate since their belly’s are full and they aren’t coming back. Hang the SOBs that left the gate open in the first place!
BS. No royalty-free lease - no exploration - no production - no nothing, except a weaker economy and a deeper energy problem. Oil and gas are real forms of energy that actually have value, remember. Unlike the kinds of energy that exist only in the imagination of Van Jones.
The government lost not a dime by allowing somebody to take the risk of finding it and extracting it on public waters, while Americans got tangible benefits like warm houses and cars that move.
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