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====Report Recommendations====
The report calls for the U.S. government to take aggressive action to make the World Bank follow the recommendation of the bank's own Extractive Industries Review and withdraw from financing coal development, or else phase out U.S. support, starting with rejection of funds and continuing with a refusal to reauthorize the [[Clean Technology Fund]] under the Bank’s purview.
====Report Recommendations====TraditionallyThe report argues that, traditionally, federal tax-exempt funding has been reserved for low risk activities, but given calls for increased regulation of [[coal waste]] and [[coal ash]], the decreasing cost of [[renewable energy]], uncertain [[coal reserves]], and potential [[cap and trade]] and [[carbon tax]] policies, coal-fired power plants are no longer low-risk investments. The report argues that, due to the risks inherent in coal plant investments, the Federal Government should ensure that disclosure of the financial risks associated with investment in coal-fired power generation is robust and sufficient to permit informed investment and mitigate bond market impacts. Since these risks are not disclosed in a transparent fashion to investors who buy tax-exempt bonds or the federally subsidized taxable BABs, there is misalignment between federal funding and federal energy goals.
====Report Recommendations====
===Report Conclusions===
The report concludes that the [[Obama]] Administration "has taken a proactive approach to leading the country towards a clean energy future. Numerous initiatives among federal agencies, including support for federally mandated carbon restrictions, a moratorium on direct loans for coal-fired power plants, Treasury guidance for development banks’ lending for coal-fired power plants, SEC guidance for public companies regarding climate change risk, are all evidence of an increasing awareness of the interplay between energy and environmental policy and financial policy. There remain certain distinct areas where federal financial policy implementation is not consistent with, and is even in conflict with, clear federal efforts to adapt to a carbon constrained future. Inconsistencies in federal policy require federal administrative intervention; private companies will not necessarily remedy the inconsistency. The disconnect between federal policies not only sets the nation back in achieving energy and environmental policy goals, but also places taxpayer dollars at risk. As regulatory policy changes, as financial circumstances change, so must the administrative financial policies of the federal government."
SW: delete section
* The 4,000 MW [[Tata Ultra Mega Power Project]] in [[India and coal|India]], with construction funded by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. It is scheduled to be completed by 2012.
* [[South Africa and coal|South African]] power company [[Eskom]]’s proposed 4,800 MW [[Medupi Power Station]], one of the largest in the world. The World Bank has approved more than $3 billion and the African Development Bank also provided more than $500 million in financial support for the project.
===U.S. Treasury Department: Tax-exempt and Build America Bonds===
A new program under the [[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act]], Build American Bonds (BABs), expands the U.S. Treasury’s use of financing tools to subsidize coal-fired power plants. Under the program, issuers of the taxable bonds are provided a 35% direct pay interest subsidy to reduce the costs of borrowing. Power companies are eligible for these federally subsidized taxable bonds funding under BABs: [[American Municipal Power Ohio]] used the tax-exempt bond market to finance the construction of the [[Prairie State Energy Campus]] in Illinois and, after the 2009 financial crisis began, issued through the BABs program nearly $500 million dollars of federally subsidized taxable bonds to finance the last phases of construction. The bonds have also been used for [[scrubbers]] at existing plants.
===U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service===
[[Retrofit vs. Phase-Out of Coal-Fired Power Plants|Retrofits]] to existing coal plants, such as [[scrubbers]] to comply with the [[Clean Air Act]], may qualify for RUS funding but may not be the best use of such funding: while a retrofit to address a given regulatory requirement may appear cost effective, comprehensive analysis of investment in the plant considering all possible cost sources (regulation of greenhouse gasses, [[Air pollution from coal-fired power plants|criteria air pollutants]], [[Heavy metals and coal|hazardous materials]], and [[coal waste]]) could reveal that the plant itself is no longer cost effective under existing or likely conditions.
The report therefore calls for RUS to (1) permanently halt granting loans and loan guarantees for the construction of new coal-fired power plants, (2) review its policies for loans and loan guarantees for coal-fired power plant retrofits, (3) develop a prudence standard for lien accommodations, lien subordinations and lien releases, (4) require electric cooperatives to plan and take action to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and (5) suspend lien accommodation or subordination for coal plants using the same financial risk analysis it has adopted to stop funding new plants.
*[[Leucadia]]'s [[Indiana SNG|Indiana Gasification SNG project]] – loan coverage of $1.6 billion to produce Substitute Natural Gas ([[syngas]]) from coal for sale to customers in Indiana, with proposed [[carbon capture]] for enhanced oil recovery.
*[[Leucadia]]'s [[Mississippi Gasification| Mississippi Gasification SNG project]] – loan coverage of $1.689 billion to produce [[syngas]] from [[petroleum coke]] feedstock, for sale to electric utilities in the region, with proposed [[carbon capture]] for enhanced oil recovery.
===Government subsidies for railroads===
