BailoutWatch – Tracking government support for the fossil fuel industry.

SERIES: What Fossil Fuels Really Did With Their Bailouts

Our three-part analysis of 2020 annual reports and proxies found that oil, gas and coal companies received billions in bailout benefits, then paid off their shareholders and executives while laying off workers.

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Latest On Bailout

Reports, news, and analysis on how the fossil fuel industry is using federal bailout money.

oil workers

Analysis

Fossil fuel firms slashed nearly 60,000 jobs in 2020 while pocketing $8.2 billion tax bailout

As Washington weighs ending fossil fuel tax subsidies, oil and gas companies are quietly disclosing how many millions (or billions) they received from a pandemic tax break last year — and how many jobs they cut.

offshore drilling finance chart

Analysis

Fossil fuels used $100M tax bailouts to pay shareholders while slashing jobs

With oil and gas claiming they get “no special tax treatment,” new data show polluters with the biggest tax bailouts mostly used the money to increase payments to shareholders while eliminating jobs.

Hard hats in storage

Analysis

Pay gap widened between oil CEOs and their workers last year, even after bailouts and layoffs

The fossil fuel industry defends its jobs record. But we found a dozen top oil and gas companies paying top executives more than 100 times the median worker’s salary while laying people off — even after collecting billions in public aid.

Report

Bailed Out and Propped Up

The fossil fuel industry received between $10.4 billion and $15.2 billion in direct economic relief from federal efforts under President Donald Trump.

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President Trump signed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act in the early days of the pandemic.

News

Fossil fuel plant pollution
Report

Brookings: How Biden And Congress Can Use COVID-Related Corporate Stimulus To Boost Climate Resilience

The Brookings Institute arges that the U.S. should use pandemic recovery funds to incentivize corporations to better confront their own climate risk exposure.

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