Don't forget oil subsidy

To the editor:
The Washington Post article featured in the Wednesday, Jan. 4 edition of the Commercial Review (Good-bye, good riddance to these tax credits) overlooked the largest subsidized industry in America — Big Oil. The oil and gas industries have benefited from more than $280 billion in taxpayer support and other financial incentives, not including the more than $225 billion we spend annually to defend oil shipping routes in the Persian Gulf, as estimated by a 2010 Princeton University study.
Meanwhile, America’s comparatively minor investment in ethanol has produced some big returns for taxpayers and farmers alike. In 2010 alone, the ethanol industry reduced farm subsidy payments by $10.1 billion, added $53.6 billion to the economy, and reduced gas prices by $34.5 billion.
The tax credit was never intended to last forever. Incentives have been used historically to help emerging industries develop and grow, not be forever subsidized. So, on December 31, the ethanol industry waved goodbye to the blender tax credit.
The ethanol industry can and will survive without the credit. Ethanol — produced right here in our backyards — represents our best domestically-produced alternative to foreign oil. Ethanol is cheaper — studies show ethanol reduces gas prices by as much as 35 cents a gallon. It is cleaner — grain ethanol reduces harmful emissions by at least 59 percent. And it creates jobs here in America that can’t be outsourced.
American ethanol stepped up to the plate and willingly gave up a tax incentive. It’s time Big Oil does the same.
Steve Pittman
General Manager
POET Biorefining,
Portland[[In-content Ad]]