“Don’t waste a crisis.” This somewhat cynical political axiom has been attributed to many different people, but arguably none have exemplified it quite like President Trump and his allies. Taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve ramped up efforts to dismantle environmental rules, giving away natural resources and undercut the tools of government that ordinarily allow the public to have some say in what happens to the land, water and air around them...The Department of the Interior is making it easier for oil and gas companies to avoid making royalty payments when they drill on public lands. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in particular, has moved to effectively give away publicly held oil by helping companies pause their leases and avoid royalty payments.Meanwhile, the BLM is charging retroactive rent to wind and solar energy producers, which have been decimated by the recent economic slump. Trump has a long record of antagonism toward renewable energy. - The Wilderness Society
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Trump finds another way to hurt renewables and foment climate change
I'm primarily looking to draw attention to the retroactive rent part. The whole article, though, is a well-documented summary of just how criminally awful the Trumpers are on all things environmental.
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Trump can do this because House Republicans want it ... some have joined the Climate Solutions Caucus but when it came to votes, many times most voted in opposition to bills supported by the majority of the group.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Trump can do this because he knows that even bipartisan bills can be defeated. For example, today, even though 38 Republicans and every Democrat who voted wanted to pass H.R. 6782 – Small Business Transparency and Reporting for the Underbanked and Taxpayers at Home (TRUTH) Act, it failed. The TRUTH Act would require the SBA to disclose every recipient of a grant or loan, an explanation for the loan decision-making process, how many employees the borrower has, and loan size ... in other words require basic oversight information. But when Tom Emmer, Jim Hagedorn, Pete Stauber and 143 other Republicans voted NO, it did not pass the 2/3 threshold needed for approval.
Obviously, they do not want any more stories like Trump's campaign manager Brad Parscale getting an $800,000 loan, Phunware, a data firm for the Trump campaign getting $2.85 million, Trump's campaign finance chair for Illinois in the 2016 presidential campaign and current U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Ronald Gidwitz's family business got a $5.5 million loan, Clay Lacy Aviation, whose founder donated thousands to the Trump campaign in 2016, received a $27 million bailout ... ok, I guess you can see why they wouldn't want the taxpayers to see who got the money.
Some good news ... https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-20-41.pdf
ReplyDeleteTreasury Department and Internal Revenue Service has issued a notice that provides flexibility for companies utilizing the energy investment tax credit (ITC) and production tax credit (PTC) during the coronavirus pandemic.
Naturally, the smart people know to always praise Trump if you ever want him to do anything for you again, so Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Vice President of Government Affairs Chris Mathey: “At a time when all industries across the U.S. are struggling, the clean energy sector just got a much-needed jolt thanks to the leadership of Senators Grassley (R-IA), Murkowski (R-AK), Thune (R-SD), Collins (R-ME), and Tillis (R-NC) as well as Treasury Secretary Mnuchin. The one-year extension of the safe harbor provisions to claim the investment tax credit (ITC) and production tax credit (PTC) is a strong first step toward recovery for a sector facing mounting construction, development, and job losses. CRES looks forward to working with Congress and the Administration on additional measures benefiting other low-carbon technologies, such as carbon capture, that will help put Americans back to work.”