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The study [http://www.elistore.org/Data/products/d19_07.pdf ''U.S. Government Subsidies for Energy Sources 2002-2008''] was released in September 2009 by the [http://www.eli.org/index.cfm Environmental Law Institute]. The report was authored by Adenike Adeyeye, James Barrett, Jordan Diamond, Lisa Goldman, John Pendergrass, and Daniel Schramm, and funded by the [httpFossil fuel subsidies fall roughly into two categories://www.ef.org/home.cfm Energy Foundation].<ref>Adenike Adeyeye, James Barrett, Jordan Diamond, Lisa Goldman, John Pendergrass, and Daniel Schramm, [http://www.elistore.org/Data/products/d19_07.pdf ''U.S. Government Subsidies to Energy Sources 2002-2008'',] Environmental Law Foundation, September 2009</ref> According to the report, fossil fuel subsidies fall roughly into two categories:
SW: →Lost Government Revenue: - add section
==Lost Government Revenue==
# foregone revenues, such as a) provisions in the U.S. Tax Code that reduce the tax liabilities of particular entities, and b) lost government revenue from leasing of federal lands through the under-collection of royalty payments from coal, oil, and gas;
# direct spending, in the form of expenditures on research, development, and other programs.
===Foregone revenues===A 2011 analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, [http://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers/CorporateTaxDodgersReport.pdf "Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers: 2008-10"] found dozens of companies, including fossil fuels, used tax breaks and various tax dodging methods to have a negative tax balance between 2008 and 2010, while making billions in profits. The study found 32 companies in the fossil-fuel industry -- such as [[Peabody Energy]], [[ConEd]], and [[PG&E]] -- transformed a tax responsibility of $17.3 billion on $49.4 billion in pretax profits into a tax benefit of $6.5 billion, for a net gain of $24 billion. D.C.-area utility [[Pepco]] had the highest negative tax rate of the 280 companies surveyed in the report, with negative taxes of $508 billion on $882 pretax profits, a negative tax rate of 57 percent. The companies that paid no tax for at least one year between 2008 and 2010 are the utilities [[Ameren]], [[American Electric Power]], [[CenterPoint Energy]], [[CMS Energy]], [[Consolidated Edison]], [[DTE Energy]], [[Duke Energy]], [[Entergy]], [[FirstEnergy]], [[Integrys Energy Group]], [[NextEra Energy]], [[NiSource]], [[Pepco]], [[PG&E]], [[PPL]], [[Progress Energy]], [[Sempra Energy]], [[Wisconsin Energy]] and [[Xcel Energy]].<ref>Robert S. McIntyre, Matthew Gardner, Rebecca J. Wilkins, Richard Phillips, [http://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers/CorporateTaxDodgersReport.pdf "Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers: 2008-10"] Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, November 2011 Report.</ref> ===Foregone revenues and direct spending===The study [http://www.elistore.org/Data/products/d19_07.pdf ''U.S. Government Subsidies for Energy Sources 2002-2008''] was released in September 2009 by the [http://www.eli.org/index.cfm Environmental Law Institute]. It calculated lost government revenues by each fossil fuel sector. The report was authored by Adenike Adeyeye, James Barrett, Jordan Diamond, Lisa Goldman, John Pendergrass, and Daniel Schramm, and funded by the [http://www.ef.org/home.cfm Energy Foundation].<ref>Adenike Adeyeye, James Barrett, Jordan Diamond, Lisa Goldman, John Pendergrass, and Daniel Schramm, [http://www.elistore.org/Data/products/d19_07.pdf ''U.S. Government Subsidies to Energy Sources 2002-2008'',] Environmental Law Foundation, September 2009</ref> ====All fossil fuels====
The study included the following major conclusions:
* The vast majority of federal subsidies for fossil fuels and renewable energy supported energy sources that emit high levels of greenhouse gases when used as fuel.
* Almost half of the subsidies for renewables are attributable to corn-based ethanol, the use of which, while decreasing American reliance on foreign oil, raises considerable questions about effects on climate.
====Coal====
The study singled out the following major subsidies benefiting the coal industry:
* Credit for Production of Nonconventional Fuels (annual subsidy: $14 billion)- IRC Section 45K. This provision provides a tax credit for the production of certain fuels. Qualifying fuels include: oil from shale, tar sands; gas from geopressurized brine, Devonian shale, coal seams, tight formations, biomass, and coal-based synthetic fuels. This credit has historically primarily benefited coal producers.
* The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program ($6.3 billion) - The main structure of the program is to provide low-income households with the means to make their utility payments, the vast majority of which is energy generated by fossil fuels. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has tabulated the percentage of households using fossil versus non-fossil heating fuels in 2001, and ELI used the percentage as a proxy for fossil versus non-fossil expenditures for 2002-2008.
* Black Lung Disability Trust Fund ($1 billion) - pays health benefits to coal miners afflicted with pneumoconiosis, a long-term degenerative disease from constant inhalation of coal dust, also known as “black lung.” Created in 1978, it is funded through an excise tax on coal to support a trust fund covering health costs of affected workers, however the tax is not sufficient to cover all costs, and the BLDTF was given “indefinite authority to borrow” from the U.S. General Fund. By the end of FY 2008, the BLDTF had accrued nearly $13 billion in debt. In 2008, Congress partially “bailed out” the BLDTF, which ELI tabulated as a subsidy to coal.
==Tax breaks==
==External Costs==
