It occurs to me after reading some of your comments that many may not be familiar with the shenanigans over at the Department of the Interior. I have posted below (and back a few weeks) about the revenue stream they provide the US government, which desperately depends on those billions and billions of dollars from the sale and lease of our precious resources. This is one HUGE piece of the puzzle about why renewables aren’t even given a fair shake. There is virtually no money in it for the government.

I have written about the money received through lease sales, royalties and bonuses connected to the Department of the Interior. For those who haven’t looked through previous posts, check this website out and just look around it. You’ll see the enormous amounts of money that is generated through dirty energy sources. There is barely a blip on the screen for clean energy revenues.

http://18f.github.io/doi-extractives-data/

And what do all these billions of dollars per year received from the fossil fuel industry result in? Other than a bad conscious, they result in grift, greed and generally VERY bad behavior. Who pays THAT price other than the taxpayers? Ultimately, it is the planet and the ability for us all to breathe clean air and drink uncontaminated water. Here are a few stories about the scandals within the DOI that resulted in some reorganization and some firings, and some sorrowful promises to do better in the future. Wow, that sounds just like what Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron say when they’ve been caught polluting, doesn’t it?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.ieefa.org/study-almost-30-billion-in-revenues-lost-to-taxpayers-by-giveaway-of-federally-owned-coal-in-powder-river-basin/