by Mason Inman.
Republicans are vowing to fight President Obama's newly released budget for the 2012 fiscal year. Among other things, the new budget includes a few significant changes to spending on climate and energy research. In the energy sector, it calls for slashing tax breaks and loopholes for fossil fuel producers to bring in about $4 billion dollars of additional revenue. Obama has asked to end these fossil fuel subsidies in the past two years' budgets, however, and was shot down each time.
(Meanwhile, a House bill called the Ending Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act would go much farther, targeting $40 billion in big oil tax breaks. It seems no one is sure, even roughly, how much fossil fuel tax breaks amount to.)
If the budget is approved, the extra revenue from ending these tax breaks would help pay for proposed boosts elsewhere. Overall, the U.S. Department of Energy budget would rise 12 percent to $29.5 billion. The budget for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, dedicated to funding cutting-edge technologies, would jump from $398 million to $550 million.
Another winner would be the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with boosts in funding for more satellites to keep an eye on the planet and upgrade the fledgling National Climate Service so it's on par with the National Weather Service.
Hydrogen comes in as the big loser. Its boosters may be stung by the proposed 40 percent cut in research on hydrogen; the administration argued the money is better spent on other technology that may reach scale much sooner.
rest at http://www.grist.org/article/2011-02-17-obamas-new-budget-would-make-big-oil-pay-for-clean-energy
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