Obama Can Cut Fossil Fuel Subsidies and Save $39 Billion, But Will Congress Go Along?

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.truth-out.org/obama-can-cut-fossil-fuel-subsidies-and-save-39-billion-but-will-congress-go-along66901

Washington—Lately, President Obama seems to be suffering from a case of laryngitis on the topic of shaving subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.

Thus, not too surprisingly, it appears Congress has been infected with the same bug.

Environmentalists and deficit hawks are eager for the president to find his voice again by using his 2012 federal budget to once again take a whack at propping up oil and coal. Last year, the idea he dangled of eliminating $38.8 billion in such subsidies through 2020 went nowhere. It’s unclear if Obama might try to duplicate those savings when he unveils his latest budget proposal in mid-February.

David Goldwyn of the State Department made it clear during a talk in Washington this week that reining in fossil fuel subsidies worldwide would help to make a significant dent in greenhouse gas emissions. The Group of 20 has committed to doing so and the International Energy Agency will be keeping score, said Goldwyn, who is stepping down today from his position as coordinator for international energy affairs.

In the United States, he pointed out, reducing subsidies “will be a political battle.”

“The one piece you can lay at the Obama doorstep is a failure to push this issue,” Steve Kretzmann, executive director of the Washington-based nonprofit Oil Change International, told SolveClimate News in an interview. “He has put it in his budget the last two years and Congress didn’t pick up on it. A campaign from the White House about eliminating subsidies could do a lot.”

More at the link --

[Hotler]

1. k&r nt.

[old mark]

2. We use wood pellets for heat, have not had the gas furnace on all year...

I would love to see the subsidies completely gone, but I expect that will happen sometime after the legalization of pot and the Eagles winning the Super Bowl...

K&R
mark