Tax dollars still funding fossil fuel subsidies

To The Eagle:

The guy who expressed such sympathy for the energy industry here in the U.S. must have been talking about an oil industry on some other planet.

The facts as I’ve read them are that this country’s petroleum industry enjoyed $111 billion in profits last year, as well as $20 billion in subsidies from our federal government.

I understand that subsidies were granted many years ago to encourage the oil business to develop new wells and pipelines. Today, our tax dollars are still funding such outdated fossil fuel subsidies. It’s time to stop coddling this gigantic industry that seems to be dominating our economy.

You can bet there is just as much domestically produced oil and gasoline available today as there was a year ago, yet we are now getting mugged at the pumps by the oil industry. Instead of subsidizing corporate welfare for oil companies, how about subsidizing every one of us trying to balance our checkbooks on a fixed income?

Grace Ling

Puget Island