Written Statement by Ms. Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense:
Last night in his State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated his strong call to end subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, calling for an end for tax breaks to Big Oil. We are pleased to hear this renewed commitment and eager to see these reforms take shape. After nearly a century of generous subsidies, its time the industry pay its fair share.
On a less promising note, while calling for a clean energy future, the President urged the construction of the next generation of nuclear reactors and the development of clean coal and advanced biofuels. We hope this does not demonstrate a commitment to put more taxpayer dollars into the established nuclear, coal and ethanol industries. Nuclear energy should compete on its own merits in our new energy future, not continue to be propped up by endless federal support. Clean coal technologies are an extremely costly, high risk investments that taxpayers have already heavily subsidized, with little to show for our investment. The coal, nuclear and ethanol industries have enjoyed decades of lucrative subsidies and taxpayers cannot afford to foot the bill any longer.
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