As the new home of WISPIRG's environmental work, Wisconsin Environment can be contacted with any questions regarding this report.
Madison,
WI — Government subsidies to oil, coal and nuclear power industries
could double if the Senate passes H.R. 4, the House energy bill,
according to a report released today by WISPIRG, Friends of the Earth,
Taxpayers for Common Sense, Sierra Club and Republicans for
Environmental Protection among others. "Running on Empty: How
Environmentally Harmful Energy Subsidies Siphon Billions from
Taxpayers" details new and existing subsidies to oil, coal, gas and
nuclear industries that would total more than $62 billion over the next
10 years.
In
"Running on Empty," WISPIRG estimates that existing handouts to
polluting energy industries totaling $33 billion will be increased by
nearly 100 percent, to $62 billion, if the House energy bill (H.R. 4)
is signed into law. Industry allies in Congress are promoting these new
subsidies, despite the erosion of a four year budget surplus into a
potential $100 billion deficit.
"We're
witnessing a doubling in handouts to polluters - a whopping $62 billion
in taxpayer money to oil, coal, gas and nuclear industries in combined
new and existing subsidies," said Kerry Schumann, WISPIRG Director.
"With the tight budget situation we're in, there's a clear challenge
here to the Senate to do the right thing and avoid the route the House
has taken."
The
Senate is poised to begin debate on its own energy bill (S. 1766) in
early February. While the legislation is currently incomplete, some
dirty energy subsidies are already emerging.
Among
the dirty energy subsidies in the House and Senate bills, and the
federal budget, targeted by "Running on Empty" are:
So-called "clean coal" projects in Wisconsin include:
-
Alliant
Energy Corporation of Wisconsin has a clean coal proposal pending for
its subsidiary, Wisconsin Power and Light, to improve the performance
of three plants in Sheboygan and Portage, Wisconsin.
-
The
Babcock & Wilcox Company completed a $13,646,609 clean coal project
in 1994 at Wisconsin Power and Light Company's Nelson Dewey Station in
Cassville, Wisconsin. Partners included Wisconsin Power and Light
Company, Sargent and Lundy, and Electric Power Research Institute,
among others. This plant emitted 7,266 tons of sulfur dioxide in 2000,
more than double that emitted in 1990. The plant also emitted 750,887
tons of carbon dioxide and 2,758 tons of nitrogen oxides in the same
year.
-
Xcel
Energy of Minnesota has a proposal pending to reduce emissions at the
Bay Front Power Plant in Ashland, Wisconsin.
-
The
Price-Anderson Act, which props up an ailing nuclear industry that
produces deadly waste for which there is no safe disposal option.
Price-Anderson represents a multi-billion dollar insurance subsidy that
shields nuclear power plants from the full cost of a nuclear accident.
Corporations like Alliant, the operator of the Kewaunee nuclear power
plant, and Wisconsin Electric Power Company, operator of the Point
Beach nuclear plants, would not be required to fully compensate the
citizens of Wisconsin in the event of a serious nuclear accident.
-
The
Department of Energy's oil and coal research and development programs,
which are projected to cost taxpayers almost $2.5 billion over the next
ten years. These programs subsidize mature, polluting industries and
increase American reliance on energy supplies that represent the
greatest source of smog, soot and global warming pollution. For
example, in Wisconsin, oil and coal-fired power plants released almost
52 million tons of carbon dioxide in year 2000 alone.
Many
of these programs, used by some of the nation's biggest corporations,
have been subsidized by federal taxpayer dollars for decades. "Adding
insult to injury, the companies are using taxpayer money in ways that
pollute our water, our air, our land our health," added Gary Werner,
Conservation Chair with the Wisconsin Sierra Cub. "For example, power
plants caused an estimated 448 premature deaths in Wisconsin in 2000
from asthma and heart attacks."
"These
handouts represent a reward to the energy polluters that have
devastated our environment at taxpayer expense," said Schumann. "We
urge the Senate to move us toward a cleaner, smarter energy future and
to reject the type of thinking behind H.R. 4."
Over the last eight years, the Green Scissors Coalition has helped to cut or eliminate $26 billion in environmentally harmful spending programs from the federal budget.
