It's 2008. You're a tax-paying American. Do you know where your greenbacks are going?
Here's the dirt - er, coal dust.
Since the late 1970’s, the federal
government has funneled billions of dollars into “Clean Coal”
technology and programs designed to make the mining and burning of coal
less polluting. Unfortunately, funding for clean coal technology has
done little more than increase the profits of coal companies. Poorly
run and over-funded, clean coal has largely been a waste of taxpayer
dollars.
The report was put together by the non-partisan budget watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense. They continue with specifics; here's an excerpt:
- Since 1978, the federal government has invested $2.5 billion on clean coal technology.1 The Energy Policy Act of 2005 included more than $8 billion in subsidies for the coal industry.2 In 2007 alone, the federal government spent $61 million on its Clean Coal Power Initiative, and an additional $54 million on the FutureGen initiative to develop the technology for zero-emissions coal-fired power plants.3
- The Bush Administration’s Clean Coal Power Initiative, began in 2002, provides $2 billion over 10 years to projects that implement clean coal technologies. The government funds up to fifty percent of the cost of each project.4
- The Energy Policy Act of 2005 included more than $8 billion in subsidies for the coal industry. This includes the following $4.1 billion in subsidies specifically for clean coal:6,7
- $1.8 billion for the Clean Coal Power Initiative, described above
- Up to $80 million in loans for the Healy Power Plant, a clean coal plant in Alaska
- $425 million for coal-to-liquids demonstration projects at Southern Illinois University, University of Kentucky, and Purdue University
- $90 million for carbon capture research and development, a ten-year project to develop carbon capture technologies for new and existing coal power plants
- $1.68 billion in tax credits for clean coal facilities
- Coal companies shouldn’t need the billions of dollars in support they’re getting from the federal government. Peabody Energy, the largest private-sector coal company, posted record revenue in the second quarter of 2008, more than doubling its profits from the same quarter last year.8
- Successful clean coal projects were
supposed to generate income, and repay the Department of Energy for the
original costs. But of the $1.6 Billion invested in clean coal, only $2 million, around a tenth of one percent, has been repaid.10
[Emphasis mine]
Their conclusion is obvious:
Continued funding for the bloated clean
coal program will do little to help our nation’s energy future and
leave taxpayers paying a hefty price.
Sounds like a no-brainer to me.
Dirty Air Killing Us in Coal Minning Community
Alavert
I truly believe the coal
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