Changes

{{#badges: CoalSwarm}} '''Federal coal subsidies''' are forms of financial assistance paid by federal taxpayers to the coal and power industry. Such subsidies include direct spending, tax breaks and exemptions, low-interest loans, loan guarantees, loan forgiveness, grants, lost government revenue such as discounted royalty fees to mine federal lands, and federally-subsidized external costs, such as health care expenses and environmental clean-up due to the negative effects of coal use. [[External costs of coal]] include the loss or degradation of valuable ecosystems and community health.

In June 2010, the U.S. [[Energy Information Administration]] (EIA) said $557 billion was spent to subsidize fossil fuels globally in 2008, compared to $43 billion in support of renewable energy. In a July 2011 [http://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/subsidy/pdf/subsidy.pdf EIA report] on federal fossil fuel subsidies, coal was estimated to have tax expenditures (provisions in the federal tax code that reduce the tax liability of firms) with an estimated value of $561 million in FY 2010, down from $3.3 billion in FY 2007.<ref>Alex Morales, [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-29/fossil-fuel-subsidies-are-12-times-support-for-renewables-study-shows.html "Fossil Fuel Subsidies Are Twelve Times Renewables Support"] Bloomberg, July 29, 2010.</ref>