President Joe Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants to provide residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities.
That's less than a quarter of what we waste annually on fossil fuel subsidies. And this is a president whose administration considers record oil production to be an accomplishment instead of a disgrace.
Why are they record high? The Trump administration dialed back Obama-era regulations targeting industry pollution and encouraging zero-emission competitors to fossil fuels.
It’s three years old, because it’s a list of regulations that Trump repealed. He hasn’t been president since, so there’s no reason to update. Trump repealed Obama-era regulations that inhibited big oil in favor of zero-emission alternatives. That has a positive impact on oil production in the years that follow, hence the record production.
He has been, but it’s much easier and faster to repeal legislation than it is to enact it. Trump took us back a decade in his first two years in office.
That’s part of the Inflation Reduction Act. In the Treasury Department’s Green Book, under the heading “eliminate fossil fuel tax preferences,” 13 current-law provisions will be repealed or replaced, raising $31 billion over 10 years. Additionally, the document details $66 billion of tax increases on the foreign income of U.S. oil and gas companies, costing the industry $97 billion.