Obama Administration Looking to Curb Fossil Fuel Giveaways

One of the odder things about the tendency of politicians who like to espouse free market principles to oppose efforts to reduce American dependence on dirty energy sources is that the way the status quo works is that fossil fuel producers are actually pretty heavily subsidized. And, naturally, it got worse while George W. Bush was in office. Jim Tankersley and Josh Meyer report for the LA Times:

The Obama Interior Department is reviewing a decision made by the Bush administration in its final days that attempted to lock in lucrative royalty rates and favorable regulations for oil companies holding leases for oil-shale development on public lands.

The decision, which came in the form of amendments to existing leases, drew little public notice at the end of the Bush administration in January. But since then, congressional watchdogs, environmental groups and state officials in Colorado, where most of the leases are located, have denounced the amendments as a massive giveaway to the oil industry.

Any time you talk about oil shale it’s also a reminder that though messages about “energy independence” tend to poll well, it can be a risky gambit for clean energy advocates to rely too heavily on talking points that can also support very dirty undertakings.