A Peek at U.S. Energy Subsidies

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Ever wondered how much U.S. federal energy subsidies amount to—and who’s getting them? So did Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander who almost a year ago asked the Energy Information Administration to cough up the latest numbers This month, the EIA did. Since 1999, federal energy subsidies have more than doubled—from $8.2 billion to $16.6 billion in 2007 Renewables” landed $4.8 billion last year, but that includes $3.25 billion for ethanol and other biofuels Coal and cleaner-burning “refined” coal took home $3.3 billion nuclear power industry got $1.3 billion Federal energy subsidies seem to dominate discussion on the Hill (and overseas) Sen. Alexander argued against the current subsidy mix After a doubling of federal energy subsidies in eight years, the EIA notes, U.S. total energy production is “virtually unchanged” at 72 quadrillion British Thermal Units with the significant incentives provided to various production segments of the energy sector would tend to raise domestic energy production.