Coal Subsidies: Energy Policy Act of 2005

May 26, 2008 | 2 min read | Print Article

The coal industry received more than $9 billion in loans, research funds, tax breaks and other subsidies in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Below is a breakdown of these subsidies.

Clean Coal Power Initiative (Sec. 401) – Formerly known as Clean Coal Technology Program (until 2014)	$1.8 billion
Loan to get Healy Power Plant in Alaska in service (Sec. 412) – Will retrofit plant with standard technology to get it in service	$80 million
Electron Scrubbing Demonstration (Sec. 416) – cleaning tech. for high-sulfur coal plants	$5 million
Coal-to-Liquid Demonstration Plants using IL basin coal (Sec. 417) – Authorizes funds for CTL test facilities in Southern Illinois, Kentucky, and Purdue Universities. Also funds a program evaluating feasibility of producing CTL fuels. (until 2010)	$425 million
Clean Air Coal Program (Sec. 421) – provides loans and cost-sharing contracts for air-pollution control on coal power plants (until 2013)	$2.5 billion
Air Quality Enhancement Program (Sec. 421) – awards for plants that implement technology to meet or exceed air quality standards set by state government (until 2011)	$500 million
Coal and Related Technologies Program (Sec. 962) – Funds for research into cost-competitive uses for coal in transportation, feedstock, or electric industry (until 2009)	$1.137 billion
Carbon Capture R&D program (Sec. 963) – Funds for studying carbon capture and sequestration (until 2008)	$90 million
Tax credit for clean coal technologies (Sec. 1307) – awards tax credit for plants that invest in clean coal technology	$1.65 billion
84-Month Amortization of Certain Pollution Facilities (Sec. 1309) – increases amortization period for pollution control technologies for coal power plants placed in service after April 2005 (estimated cost 2005-2015)	$1.15 billion
TOTAL	$9.3 billion