Green Scissors 2011

[Dan Clore]

News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/08/24-7
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Hill
Groups Call on Supercommittee to Cut Energy Subsidies
by Andrew Restuccia

A major environmental group has teamed up with a conservative think tank
and others to urge the congressional supercommittee to slash oil, coal,
ethanol and nuclear subsidies — a move the groups say would save $380
billion over the next five years.

Friends of the Earth, the Heartland Institute, Public Citizen and
Taxpayers for Common Sense released a report Wednesday, dubbed “Green
Scissors 2011,” that casts the cuts as benefiting both the environment
and the economy.

“While all four groups have different missions, histories, goals and
ideas about the role of government, we all agree that we can begin to
overcome our nation’s budgetary and environmental woes by tackling
spending that is not only wasteful but environmentally harmful,” the
groups said in the report.

The groups noted that the report’s cuts amount to about one-fourth of
the $1.5 trillion in debt reduction the supercommittee, which was formed
as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling, is charged with finding.
The 12-member panel has until Nov. 23 to come up with a proposal.

While some Democrats have said they will push for the supercommittee to
eliminate oil industry tax breaks, the move faces resistance from
Republicans, who have taken tax increases off the table.

Still, Taxpayers for Common Sense President Ryan Alexander said
eliminating energy tax breaks is an easy way to meet the
supercommittee’s debt-reduction goal.

“These common-sense cuts represent the lowest of the low-hanging
budgetary fruit,” Alexander said. “Lawmakers across the political
spectrum should be scrambling to eliminate these examples of wasteful
spending and unnecessary tax breaks that are squandering our precious
tax dollars while the nation is staring into a chasm of debt.”

Former Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) echoed Alexander’s sentiments.

“These subsidies really hold back innovation because they protect
grandfathered fuels and grandfathered technologies that keep the new
fuels from coming to market,” he said Wednesday on a call with reporters
about the report.

The report calls for eliminating a series of tax breaks for the oil
industry, as well as a 45-cents-per-gallon ethanol tax credit. It also
recommends cutting incentives for carbon capture and sequestration at
coal plants, as well as loan guarantees for the nuclear industry.

--
Dan Clore

New book: _Weird Words: A Lovecraftian Lexicon_:
http://tinyurl.com/yd3bxkw
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-unspeakable-and-others/6124911
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
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"Don't just question authority,
Don't forget to question me."
-- Jello Biafra