Romney Would Preserve $4 Billion in Tax Breaks for Big Oil Every Year, End America’s Wind Energy Progress Right Now

WASHINGTON (August 22, 2012) – The energy agenda unveiled by GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney would hand over America’s lands and coasts to oil companies and preserve more than $4 billion in tax subsidies every year, even as it cuts key incentives to produce more American-made wind energy. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, today decried this new kowtow to the oil industry as bad for America’s competitive spirit.

“Mitt Romney would waste no time handing over our taxpayer lands and America’s coasts to oil companies, but won't even lift a finger when it comes to supporting America’s wind energy industry right now,” said Rep. Markey. “Just two years after the end of the BP oil spill, Mitt Romney would truncate or eliminate important reviews for new drilling, even as he would allow oil companies to expand their operations off our coasts. This isn’t a serious energy plan, it’s a serious threat to our coastal economies and to America’s competitive role in the world’s energy future.”

Even though nearly 40,000 layoffs in America’s wind industry will result from the end of the Production Tax Credit that promotes more American-made wind energy, Mitt Romney has said he opposes extending this incentive. However, the Ryan budget and Mitt Romney both would extend the $4 billion in tax subsidies given to the oil industry each year.

Contact: Giselle Barry, Rep. Ed Markey, 202-225-2836 Eben Burnham-Snyder, Rep. Ed Markey, 202-225-6065