Green Scissors Wants Energy Subsidies Cut

Four organizations produced "Green Scissors 2011" -- from the left, the consumer advocate Public Citizen and environmentalist Friends of the Earth; and from the right, the libertarian Heartland Institute and spending watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense. They said that together they found $380 billion in government spending over the next five years "that is not only wasteful but environmentally harmful."

Renewable-energy fans will be pleased that programs supporting fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal are targeted in the report. And few tears would likely be shed in seeing ethanol and nuclear-industry subsidies jettisoned. But "clean coal," a technology that has both supporters and detractors in the environmental community, is also on the Green Scissors hit list, as are all biofuels subsidies, including those that move beyond food crops for feedstocks.

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