Non-renewable energy subsidies - per commissioners' request
29 May 2014 Good morning, Commissioners, In yesterday's ACC Workshop on Emerging Technologies, one of the presenters mentioned government subsidies for non-renewable energy sources. Commissioner Bob Burns said he was interested in learning more about these, and Brenda Burns echoed that sentiment. For those unfamiliar with fossil-fuel subsidies, the numbers can seem implausible at first. But both massive tax breaks and cash incentives have driven nearly all sectors of our economy for over a century. The attached DBL Investors report has some excellent graphs and charts depicting all US energy subsidies over their first 30 years. Its executive summary states, "the federal commitment to [oil and gas] was five times greater than the federal commitment to renewables during the first 15 years of each subsidies’ life, and it was more than 10 times greater for nuclear." What exactly are these fossil fuel subsidies? The OECD lists many of them in its compreh...