Word: synfuels
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...qualify for the tax credits, the makers of this so-called synfuel don't have to prove that they are making a better kind of coal, one that burns more efficiently or offers any other benefit. By IRS ruling, they need only modify the chemical composition of coal. As a result, dozens of plants have sprung up across America to carry out a process that in many cases is so slight that critics call it spray and pray, a reference to their hopes that no one will peek too closely. "You can't believe what goes on," a government official...
...serious energy strategy over the past three decades is taking its toll on consumers in bloated prices for petroleum products and natural gas, looming shortages of certain fuels, lost jobs, rolling brownouts and little hope for any relief, given that lawmakers are fixated on passing out subsidies, like the synfuel credit, that will do little or nothing to ease U.S. dependence on foreign...
...interests, taxpayer-supported programs have succeeded mainly in making a few people rich and protecting ineffectual schemes. To be sure, not all energy programs have been a bust. For example, tax credits that gave homeowners an incentive to install storm windows and insulate their homes got results. But the synfuel tax credit is a dead end. It doesn't increase U.S. energy production. It's just a windfall for those who have found a way to exploit it. A TIME investigation into the congressionally authorized, billion-dollar scheme shows how it works...
...benefits? A carnival of characters. But the most stunning numbers have been posted by big companies that wanted to boost their bottom line. The hotel chain Marriott International Inc., which has 2,500 lodging properties worldwide, bought four synfuel plants in October 2001. The next year, the first full year of production, Marriott's new synthetic-fuel operations generated $159 million in tax credits. Marriott had paid $46 million in cash for the facilities, meaning the tax credits gave the company a return of 246% on its investment in just one year. It was a welcome boost for the company...
Even when a company's operating income goes down, its profits can still go up if it has tax credits on tap. PPL Montana LLC, a subsidiary of PPL Corp., the holding company for such utilities as Pennsylvania Power & Light and Montana Power, reported that "although operating income from synfuel operations declined in 2002 compared to 2001, the synfuel projects contributed $7 million more to net income after recording tax credits...