FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, September 26, 2024
CONTACT: Brett Abrams | [email protected]
WASHINGTON, DC — Yesterday, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced – the Enhanced Energy Recovery Act – legislation to enhance carbon capture incentives and energy production.
Reacting to the bill’s introduction, K.D. Chavez, interim deputy director of the Climate Justice Alliance, issued the following statement:
“At a moment when we are running out of time to course correct our energy policy, pushing for more handouts to fossil fuel companies through additional tax incentives will not bring the world any closer to stopping extreme weather and increasingly devastating climate disasters.
“Instead of ensuring that oil production is incentivized, which will only further prolong our reliance on dirty industries, Congress should be advancing legislation like Representative Ro Khanna’s End Polluter Welfare for Enhanced Oil Recovery Act that eliminates subsidies for companies, mainly big oil companies, that capture carbon and use it to extract more oil and gas – a process called enhanced oil recovery. Our communities shouldn’t be subsidizing wealthy oil and gas companies with our tax dollars; creating even more dangerous climate pollution. Instead, based in free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), we should safely and effectively advance a clean and green transition away from fossil fuels and toward effective projects that are proven to work, such as community-owned solar and wind.
“The Inspector General of the U.S. Treasury Department found in a 2020 investigation requested by Sen. Menendez that fossil fuel companies improperly claimed almost $ 1 billion under the 45Q tax credit. Far from fixing the problem, Congress expanded the tax credit. Perversely, this proposed bill expands the tax credit even more.
“The irony is not lost on us that this Act was released at a time when many frontline and environmental justice communities are gathered in New York for Frontline Climate Week, where they are organizing for real climate solutions that can be replicated and carried out in communities writ large. We need incentives that promote climate justice, not perverse ones that exacerbate inequality.”
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