Reply #22: Hmm. While Kris is thinking of an answer

[Dead_Parrot]

- or dare I say, checking his facts - I'll leave everyone with this:

Management Information Services, Inc. (MISI), conducting a study of the cumulative effects of energy subsidies, found that by 1997 Federal subsidies for energy had amounted to $564 billion (1997 dollars) over the last five decades, roughly half of which went to the oil industry in the form of tax expenditures. MISI considered eight categories of Federal activity and quantified subsidies in six. In contrast to other findings, MISI found that subsidies to renewable sources ($90 billion) outpaced those to natural gas ($73 billion), coal ($68 billion), or nuclear energy ($61 billion)*. MISI itemized Federal research and development spending for nuclear, coal, and solar sources, reporting 1997 figures of $130 million, $227 million, and $259 million, respectively. MISI concluded that since renewable sources have contributed only marginally to the Nation's energy supply, solar research and development subsidies are disproportionately large and should be redirected to nuclear and fossil energy research.

*MISI included subsidies estimated at $62.5 billion cumulatively to hydroelectricity in the renewable total of $90 billion.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/subsidy/appendix_a.html