Free ride for oil may be over

[marmar]

from the Asia Times:



Free ride for oil may be over
By Stephen Leahy


BERLIN - Every day, governments give away an estimated US$2 billion of taxpayer money to the fossil fuel industry. This largesse to a highly profitable sector by countries verging on bankruptcy or unable to feed large numbers of their own people is "complete madness", according to many experts.

In Toronto on Sunday, at the conclusion of the Group of 20 summit, countries agreed the madness must be constrained if not stopped.

"I was impressed. I think the commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies has finally arrived," said Mark Halle, director of trade and investment at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) European office in Geneva.

"With countries committed to cutting their deficits, it is hard to ignore giving billions of real money away to the fossil fuel industry or to keep fuel prices low," Halle said in an interview.

The $2 billion-a-day public subsidy for carbon-based fuels is a very conservative estimate based on extensive research conducted by the IISD's Global Subsidies Initiative, said Halle. Not only do such huge subsidies undermine policies on energy efficiency, they make it impossible for alternative energy sources to compete, he said. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/LG01Dj01.ht...

[NYC_SKP]

1. K & R nt

[cutlassmama]

2. K&R

[babylonsister]

3. Send this to Congress! nt