The fossil fuel industry still has us in a chokehold | Letter

The world as we know it today was built on the back of burning fossil fuels. Unfortunately, this process has come at a tremendous cost. Emissions from burning fossil fuels are rapidly warming our world at a rate that has never occurred in the history of our planet. Why, then, do we continue to burn planet-killing fossil fuels?

One primary reason is the tremendous control the fossil fuel industry has over our government.   The industry spends approximately $250 million per year lobbying elected officials. The vast majority of this money goes to Republican officials and candidates. During the 2024 presidential campaign alone, oil interests gave more than $75 million to Donald Trump’s affiliated PACs.

This lobbying money spent by the fossil fuel industry serves as a highly effective financial instrument, yielding unparalleled returns on investment by securing multibillion-dollar taxpayer subsidies, rolling back environmental regulations and aggressively stalling clean energy competition.

According to reports, our federal government spends between $20 billion to $35 billion a year on direct handouts to the fossil fuel industry. These perks primarily include special tax breaks, deductions, cheap access to drilling on public lands and regulatory loopholes.

We cannot expect meaningful climate action as long as our representatives are financially beholden to the very industry driving this crisis. It is time for voters to demand absolute transparency and use their ballots to reject candidates who prioritize fossil fuel payouts over our planet’s future.

Ron Sadler
Lewiston

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Tagged: letter to the editor