The Checks and Balances Project helped uncover the story behind the flawed report released by the Energy Information Administration last week (see our post here). Over the weekend and today, the story was picked up by a number of blogs and outlets covering the energy debate. Today, the Checks and Balances Project, Greenpeace, and Oil Change International submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to find out what really happened this week at the EIA around the release of this report. The coverage so far is below:
EE Daily/Greenwire/NYTimes: Energy Subsidy Battle Reignites as Debt Deal Preserves Tax Breaks, by Elana Schor http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/08/01/01greenwire-energy-subsidy-battle-reignites-as-debt-deal-p-79083.html
The EIA study at issue is an update of a 2007 analysis that found $17.9 billion in quantifiable subsidies for various energy sectors that year. But the terms of that report and the current GOP-requested sequel included only energy-specific benefits with a measurable budget impact, which excludes many of the oil and gas tax benefits unsuccessfully targeted this year by President Obama and many in his party.
Climate Progress: EIA Admits its Review of 2010 Energy Subsidies is Limited, But Still Releases Skewed Report to Congress, by Stephen Lacey
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/08/01/283959/eia-review-energy-subsidies/
As the EIA admits in both reports, looking simply at yearly energy expenditures does not accurately show how much each sector is getting in subsidies.
Also on Grist: http://www.grist.org/energy-policy/2011-08-01-eia-releases-skewed-energy-subsidies-report-to-congress
Politico’s Morning Energy:
STOP! FOIA TIME – Environmental groups want more information about a Republican-ordered study from the Energy Information Agency comparing federal subsidies for renewable energy and fossil fuels. The study found higher per-kilowatt federal support for renewables, but environmental groups argue that House Republicans Jason Chaffetz, Marsha Blackburn and Roscoe Bartlett required the EIA to use assumptions that warped the study in the fossil fuel industry’s favor.
Hoping to bolster their case, the Checks and Balances Project, Greenpeace and Oil Change International have filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the EIA’s communications with the three Republicans. The request: http://politico.pro/nXyHfz
DeSmogBlog: EIA’s Politically Dictated “Garbage” Subsidy Report Obtained and Released Publicly, By Brendan DeMelle http://www.desmogblog.com/eia-s-politically-dictated-garbage-subsidy-report-obtained-and-released-publicly
By excluding a lot of the other avenues of direct federal support given disproportionately to fossil fuel interests, as well as financial tools designed to assist dirty energy companies, the report is just plain faulty, or “fuzzy math” as some guy once said.
Also on Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-demelle/energy-information-administration-report-_b_913794.html
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