Solar Companies to Tap U.S. Funds Halted Since Solyndra
by Christopher Martin and Justin Doom, Bloomberg News -- July 11, 2012
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New Criticisms
The Energy Department program was designed to support innovation at companies developing new energy technologies, and not every recipient is expected to succeed, LaVera said. House Republicans proposed a bill yesterday that would bar the agency from issuing additional loan guarantees.
The department [DOE] has provided almost $35 billion in loans, loan guarantees and conditional commitments to clean-energy companies. About 35 percent of that is for solar power-generating projects, compared with less than 4 percent for solar manufacturers, LaVera said. The remainder went to support wind, geothermal, biofuel, electric vehicles and other ventures.
[...]
There is another future-oriented point of view ...
Obama tax plan takes scalpel to oil tax breaks, boosts renewables
by Andrew Restuccia, thehill.com - 02/22/12
[...]
The plan echoes President Obama’s longtime call to eliminate tax breaks for oil and gas companies, arguing that the industry receives preferential treatment. The president outlined a plan to cut $39 billion worth of tax breaks over a decade in his fiscal 2013 budget request.
[...]
Nevermind, that Solar Subsidies are totally eclipsed by Oil Subsidies ... the GOP will be against anything that stops the pampering of Big Oil ...
No Matter WHAT those long-run costs eventually end up to be ...
Put an End to One Trillion Dollars of Annual Oil Subsidies
nl-aid.org -- Juni 19, 2012
Although governments try to hide the exact amount, an analysis by Oil Change International indicates that global oil subsidies total at least $775 billion to as much as $1 trillion or more in 2012. Rather than pay for an industry that is destroying the planet and compromising the lives of all of its inhabitants, this money could be put to better use for renewable energy, education, hunger and poverty.
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Ya think!?
This astounding Oil Subsidy Report was not lost on some people ...
Bill McKibben leads Twitter storm to stop oil subsidies
by Amy Lou Jenkins, examiner.com -- June 15, 2012
[...]
According to figures compiled by Oil Change International, countries together are spending as much as $1 trillion dollars annually on fossil fuel subsidies.
The International Energy Agency estimates that by cutting these subsidies, the world can cut global warming causing emissions in half and significantly contribute to preventing a 2 degree temperature rise, the number most scientists say we need to stay under to prevent runaway climate change.
[...]
Of course Big Oil is not having none of it.
They like being a welfare case ... a forever burden on society.
Oil Lobby Says Obama’s Call To End Big Oil Handouts Is ‘Discriminatory’
by Rebecca Leber, ThinkProgress - Climate Progress -- Feb 24, 2012
The oil lobby American Petroleum Institute weighed in on President Obama’s corporate tax reform that closes an array of tax loopholes, including $4 billion in subsidies for the oil industry. Not surprisingly, API is unhappy. API President Jack Gerard played victim, calling the plan "discriminatory" [...]
Here’s another fact: the industry receives a whopping $7 billion in tax breaks each year.
Gerard also claimed big oil pays one of the highest effective tax rates, and yet Exxon Mobil -- the most profitable oil company -- paid a 17.6 percent federal effective tax, lower than the average American. The company paid zero taxes to the federal government in 2009. The oil industry is fighting to keep its handouts, despite posting record-breaking profits of $137 billion in 2011.
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This is where I would put in my 'obligatory rant' ... but I found that blogger Nick Hodge says it much better than whatever I would have scribbled down. So here is the best of that rant:
The Truth About Energy Subsidies
Fossil Fuel Gets More
by Nick Hodge, energyandcapital.com -- June 19, 2012
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The International Energy Agency, however, defines a subsidy as “any government action that lowers the cost of fossil fuel energy production, raises the price received by energy producers, or lowers the price paid by energy consumers.”
Use that definition and the IEA says government handouts to fossil fuels dwarf what is given to renewables.
Their most recent figures show oil, coal, and gas got $312 billion in 2009 -- while renewables got “only” $57 billion.
Why such a great difference?
Well, we've never had to send ships to stop Iran from blocking solar shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. The Bureau of Land Management doesn't give away millions of acres of land to drill for wind turbines. And we've never used federal dollars to clean up an efficiency spill...
You get the idea.
Most people don't consider this type of spending before they jump to the conclusion that renewables are expensive.
Yet it's precisely this type of wasteful hidden spending that's led to our woeful budget deficits.
Last time I checked, $312 billion was five times more than $57 billion.
[...]
Why is it,
we nevermind ...
that Solar Subsidies are totally eclipsed by Oil Subsidies ... ???
Just because the GOP-catering, big-oil-funded "CO2 is Life" front groups ... say that's just the way it is ?
How about a little "economic parity"? How about putting a few eggs in another basket, for a change?