Renewables Threaten Big Oil—And the Gloves Come Off

When I first became seriously interested in renewable energy about a decade ago, several people told me: “Renewables aren’t on Big Oil’s radar screen right now, since clean energy’s penetration into the overall energy mix is next to nothing.  But watch what happens when solar and wind become a real threat.  The fossil fuel people will go ballistic; they’ll fight tooth and nail to put a spear through their new-found competition.”

Wow were those people right. Here’s their letter requesting the end to the production tax credit for wind, which refers to “The PTC Elimination Act.” Note, according to this article:

(The act) was sponsored by Mike Pompeo of Wichita, Kansas — home of Koch Industries — and Kenny Marchant of Texas. Pompeo is Congress’ top recipient of Koch campaign money, and ever since he took office in 2011 he has been introducing bills to scuttle the tax credit because, as he says, the wind industry should “compete on its own.” As of November 17, the bill had 53 co-sponsors. Forty-six of them, including Marchant, received contributions from Koch Industries over the last five years.

Since 1997, the Kochs have given more than $79 million to groups that distort climate science and malign renewable energy.

The oil and gas industry has been receiving an average of $4.86 billion in annual tax breaks and subsidies in today’s dollars since 1918, according to an analysis by DBL Investors, a venture capital firm. On top of that, Congress exempted natural gas developers from key provisions of at least seven major environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. That amounts to a substantial subsidy, too, by passing along any cleanup bill to taxpayers.

Next time you see an ad that suggests that traditional energy has any sincere interest in anything other than sucking the last molecule of fossil fuel out of the ground, know this: it’s a lie.