We have an urgent national priority: moving forward with the development and demonstration of energy-efficient technologies that would enable America to burn fossil fuels more cleanly and cheaply.
With the outlook dimming for nuclear power and renewable energy sources, there are growing concerns that efforts to maintain air quality and combat global warming will fail as energy production increases in the years ahead.
Fossil fuels meet 84 percent of U.S. energy demand, and the Energy Information Administration forecasts they will continue to be the primary energy sources well into the future.
Despite the Obama administration's efforts to derail development of fossil fuels, energy companies are not backing off. Thanks to new technology and innovation, companies are tapping into vast domestic supplies of oil, natural gas and coal. And they are doing this without any new tax breaks or subsidies.
More than three-quarters of all energy tax breaks go to renewables such as solar and wind though they account for only 2 percent of electric power generation. For every megawatt produced by solar today, the subsidy amounts to $776. For wind, it's $56. For fossil fuels, it's 64 cents.
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