Attention taxpayers: Your hard-earned cash is going into some very deep pockets.
A new report reveals that American taxpayers spend billions annually on subsidies for coal, including tax breaks, government-funded infrastructure, and inexpensive leases on land.
From The Guardian:
The research examined the subsidies given to coal production in the US’s largest coal field, the Powder River Basin, and found they totalled $2.9bn (£1.9bn) a year. This equates to $8 per tonne, almost 25% of the sale price.
Ending the subsidies would lead to cuts in coal use equivalent to shutting up to 32 coal-fired power stations, the researchers found, leading to a large reduction in carbon emissions. …
“The fossil fuel industry has gamed energy market consumers, with numerous subsidies evident over the long term,” said Tim Buckley, at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, who worked on the report.
For those of you who don’t speak British, what this means is, instead of using this taxpayer money for, oh, education or healthcare or infrastructure or saving the goddamn planet, our government is giving it to coal barons and letting them rip apart our land and pollute our air. Cool! Glad to see you can still get rich in America — at least if you have the government on your side.
