Obama Budget Takes On Big Oil and Gas
An important nugget from President Obama’s proposed 2011 budget: The White House aims to scrap $36.5 billion in subsidies to oil and gas producers by repealing an array of tax breaks for the industries.
That ought to please both environmentalists and fiscal conservatives in Congress, right? Don’t get your hopes up. From The Vine:
“„The president can propose whatever he wants; what *really *matters is whether lawmakers follow through. And the tax breaks for oil and gas producers have a lot of support in Congress—last year, in the FY2010 budget, the White House wanted to repeal $31.5 billion worth of fossil-fuel subsidies, and that idea was buried.
Remember that 12 Democratic senators just spent the weekend raising money for lobbyists, including some from oil companies.
The White House is holding a conference call on the energy and climate implications of the budget momentarily. More to come…
Update: White House officials on the call are presenting the administration’s three-pronged approach to energy issues in the budget. One element is a “focus on clean energy jobs and energy efficiency”; another is “a commitment to science research and energy innovation.” But the third, “increased funding for clean energy jobs in the nuclear sector,” will have some environmental advocates concerned. This point is largely in line with President Obama’s increased emphasis on nuclear power of late, including in his State of the Union last week. But considering that the budget will eliminate the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, it’s bound to raise some questions about how exactly this nuclear expansion will work.
