"The federal government has provided an estimated $837 billion for energy development since 1950, according to a recent report. That includes money for tax concessions, for research and development, and the value of regulations (such as exemptions from price controls)
In fact, the government has played a role in energy investment through tax deductions, research grants and regulatory policies dating back to the days when timber was a major source of fuel.
Nancy Pfund is a venture capitalist investor in clean technologies, who co-authored a recent study that tallied the tax benefits, loans and grants over the years.
'For oil and gas, it started way back in 1918, and [it averages] almost $5 billion a year,' she says. 'Nuclear is $3.5 billion [a year] starting in 1947. This is our energy policy.'
Pfund says by comparison, solar and wind power companies receive $370 million in federal subsidies annually — less than 1 percent of what the oil and gas industries receive" (Solyndra Highlights Long History Of Energy Subsidies : NPR).
Recent Statistics
(Fossil Fuel Subsidies Dwarf Renewable Subsidies). Link: Fossil Fuel Subsidies
From recent statistics, "70.2 Billion federal subsidies were given to oil companies. 53.9 billion of the 70.2 billion were tax breaks and the remaining 16.3 billion were from direct government spending. Contrastingly, only 12.2 billion federal subsidies were given to renewable energy companies, 6.2 billion was from tax breaks and 6 billion was from direct government spending. All three graphs indicate a similar trend" (Fossil Fuel Subsidies Dwarf Renewable Subsidies).
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