Coal Research and Development Background Fossil fuels, such as coal, play a large role in the nation's economy and historically have received substantial public funding through the DOE's Research and Development (R&D) programs. The DOE supports research into technology programs for producing, refining, and burning coal products.
Green Scissors Proposal Eliminate funding for the DOE's Coal Research and Development program, saving $625 million over five years.
Project Hurts Taxpayers Coal R&D projects are another form of corporate welfare. Coal R&D projects should be funded by private industry, not taxpayers. In some areas, both the utility industry and the coal industry already spend a great deal of money to develop new technologies, so taxpayer funding is unnecessary and duplicative. Many aspects of the program repeat work done under the separate Clean Coal Technology Program.
Project Hurts Environment Coal is an extremely polluting and carbon-intensive energy source. Burning coal for energy significantly contributes to acid rain and greenhouse gas build-up in the atmosphere, as well as mercury and soot pollution. Putting money into coal R&D will artificially delay and stunt the development of cleaner fuels and technologies. Moreover, because of the basic chemical and physical characteristics of coal, once coal is burned, the reduction of CO2 emissions becomes economically impossible.
$625 million