Senator Schumer responds to my opposition to renewable energy tax credits

Dear Mrs. Hludzenski:

     Thank you for writing to express your opposition to tax credits, and subsidies for alternative energy. I share your opposition to unsuccessful and unnecessary subsides.  

     As you may be aware, I have long called for an end to subsidies for huge oil companies. These subsidies have not curtailed increasing fuel prices or significantly affected production. During a Congressional Energy hearing the CEO’s of the big five oil companies, Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and Shell, expressed that they did not need incentive to explore for oil and gas and the non-partisan Congressional Research Service wrote that ending these subsides would be unlikely to decrease oil output or increase gas prices. With this and other glaring evidence my colleagues and I have moved to end these wasteful subsidies. In February, I wrote a letter to Speaker Boehner urging him to work with the Senate to put an end to these subsidies and I am also a cosponsor of S.940, the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, which would roll back huge subsidies and tax credit for large oil companies. On May 17, 2011, S.940 came before the Senate for consideration; however, it was procedurally blocked. I will continue to work with my colleges in rolling back these and other wasteful subsidies.

    

     I believe that it is necessary to balance our country’s increasing energy needs with the need to protect the environment. We must also focus on renewable energy and energy conservation in order to meet our growing energy demands.  According to one study, if the U.S. increases its efficiency by 2.2 percent per year, it could reduce foreign oil imports by more than 50 percent.  Such actions would not only reduce our dependence on foreign oil but would also safeguard the environment.

     Again, thank you for contacting me regarding this important issue. Please feel free to contact me in the future if I can be of any assistance to you on this, or any other matter.    

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

United States Senator