Energy Subsidy Nonsense - Coal Subsidy Narrow-Mindedness Gets Old

Coal and Related Carbon Resources / Economics

Date posted: 04/17/17

Zachary Shahan also reports on coal subsidies. The largest and yet most overlooked type of subsidy is related to externalities. The full cost of a good is often not paid by the producer. That hidden cost is also not included in the price. But that cost is still being paid by others, which means that the price of that good is artificially low and is being subsidized by those others. Such external costs (costs external to the company) are called externalities. Perhaps the most common type of externality is pollution. Pollution increases the costs of healthcare and degrades the quality of life of countless humans and organisms. Nonetheless, much of the time, the companies alleged to have been causing the pollution do not pay those costs, their pollution is subsidized by other individuals through higher healthcare bills, reduced economic productivity, sickness and suffering, and even death (which economists do strive to price). Coal, at 10 to 14 cents per kWh for a new power plant, is already having a difficult time competing with cheaper wind, solar, and natural gas power plants. If 9 to 27 cents per kWh were added onto it is price, no one would even consider building a new plant. There are many, many other ways in which coal is subsidized. Public land giveaways, tax credits, subsidized railroads, there are a lot of ways our government subsidizes coal, such as ... 1. Federal Coal Subsidies 2. Coal Subsidies Database 3. Top Three Ways That American Taxpayers Subsidize Dirty Coal Development 4. Why Are U.S. Taxpayers Subsidizing Coal Mining? 5. Will the Bureau of Land Management Subsidize Peabody Plans to Export Coal to Asia? The pollution externalities are really enough in themselves to price coal out of the current market.