Super committee can avoid harmful cuts by protecting the environment

The briefing proposes that the US congressional super committee avoid austerity cuts to social services and environmental enforcement by targeting "environmentally harmful spending" and generating revenue through a carbon tax and other levies. It highlights the "Green Scissors 2011" report, which identifies up to $380 billion in potential savings over five years from subsidies to the oil, gas, coal, nuclear, and biofuels industries. Additionally, the authors suggest a carbon tax could generate significant revenue, citing a proposal that could have yielded $600 billion over 10 years, alongside potential taxes on sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions and a currency transaction levy.

• The "Green Scissors 2011" report, produced by a coalition including Friends of the Earth, The Heartland Institute, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and Public Citizen, identifies up to $380 billion in environmentally harmful government spending that could be cut over five years.
• The oil and gas industry receives more than $10 billion in annual taxpayer subsidies, despite the top six oil companies reporting $38 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2011. Other industries receiving billions in subsidies include coal, nuclear, and biofuels.
• Implementing a carbon tax on large-scale emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases could generate substantial revenue; for example, a 2009 proposal by Representative Pete Stark could have yielded $80 billion in its first year and $600 billion over a decade.
• Additional revenue streams could be generated by taxing sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates could raise $27 billion over five years, or by imposing a microtax on large international currency trades to raise $5 billion annually.
• Budget cuts resulting from the debt ceiling agreement threaten the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior, potentially undermining the enforcement of clean air and clean water laws and jeopardizing tax credits for clean energy industries.

APA

Chan, M., & Schreiber, B. (2011). Super committee can avoid harmful cuts by protecting the environment. Friends of the Earth. https://foe.org/news/2011-09-super-committee-can-avoid-harmful-cuts-by-protecting/

Chicago

Chan, Michelle, and Ben Schreiber. Super committee can avoid harmful cuts by protecting the environment. Friends of the Earth, 2011. https://foe.org/news/2011-09-super-committee-can-avoid-harmful-cuts-by-protecting/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chan |first1=Michelle |last2=Schreiber |first2=Ben |title=Super committee can avoid harmful cuts by protecting the environment |publisher=Friends of the Earth |date=8 September 2011 |url=https://foe.org/news/2011-09-super-committee-can-avoid-harmful-cuts-by-protecting/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chan2011super, author = {Chan, Michelle and Schreiber, Ben}, title = {{Super committee can avoid harmful cuts by protecting the environment}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth}, year = {2011}, month = sep, url = {https://foe.org/news/2011-09-super-committee-can-avoid-harmful-cuts-by-protecting/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }