‘Green Scissors’ report tells Congress to cut environmentally damaging spending

A quarter of the cuts required under the recent Congressional debt deal could be beneficially achieved through cuts to environmentally harmful federal subsidies, according to a report produced by a politically diverse coalition.

McClatchy reports that Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen, Taxpayers for Common Sense and the Heritage Foundation have produced the Green Scissors report which outlines cuts worth $380 billion over five years.

Some of those cuts include:

_ Subsidies for coal, gas and oil: Fossil fuel companies don’t need taxpayer subsidies because they’re highly profitable, the report argues.

Also for the chopping block, the report argues, is President Barack Obama’s proposed “clean energy standard,” which would mandate use of energy from renewable energy, nuclear, natural gas and “clean coal.” The report says it locks the nation into forms of polluting energy and would raise prices.

_ Nuclear loan guarantees: The report says that the industry is mature and should be able to attract its own investment…

_ Biofuels subsides: Get rid of the ethanol tax credit and the Renewable Fuels Standard, which mandates increasing use of biofuels, because biofuels should be allowed to compete in the market without government help, it argues.

It also would cut billions of dollars in subsidies for advanced biofuels and for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal and storing them underground.

The report also calls for cuts to farm subsidies and crop insurance, highway projects, federally-backed flood insurance, and the use of public lands for livestock, mining and timber.