News & Analysis
News and analysis from BailoutWatch on fossil fuel industry bailouts and related topics.
Big Oil’s $100 Billion Bender: How The U.S. Government Provided a Safety Net for the Flagging Fossil Fuel Industry
A tally by Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen, and BailoutWatch has identified nearly $100 billion in bonds sold by oil and gas companies since the Federal Reserve launched its unprecedented bailouts last March.
COVID bailouts funded fossil fuel CEO bonuses while workers and the planet suffered
The egregiousness of fossil fuel companies receiving bailouts — while their CEOs garner millions in bonuses and yet thousands of jobs are lost — occurs against the backdrop of climate disasters colliding with the pandemic.
As bailed-out fossil fuels weaken, industry’s risks shift to taxpayers
Three big oil and gas companies were downgraded after the Fed invested taxpayer dollars to bail them out. Polluters and rule-breakers appeared on the bailout rolls. And smaller players joined in through a separate program.
A Hundred Years of Bailouts
Coronavirus lifts the curtain on Big Oil’s other big lie: that it can succeed in the “free market.”
Fed's fossil fuel bailout is ramping up
The Fed more than doubled its holdings of fossil fuel bonds last month, adding Trump-linked Noble Energy — a company Chevron is about to swallow
COVID Oversight Panel Asks Fed Why Fossil Fuels Got To Design Their Own Bailouts
The Fed’s Main Street Lending Program was designed to help healthy, mid-sized companies survive the pandemic. Then it was revised to include more oil and gas companies. A Congressional watchdog panel asked a Federal Reserve official and others who’s really calling the shots.
Human-rights and environmental groups: Fed should stop bailing out fossil fuels and start solving the climate crisis
By treating fossil fuels like any other part of the economy, despite their weak financial performance and environmental devastation, the Fed is abandoning its obligation to stabilize the financial system and safeguard government resources, according to a broad group of nonprofit and private-sector leaders.
Big US banks say fossil fuel investments are dragging them down
Lenders facing historic challenges say oil and gas investments are among their biggest problems.
Oil and gas companies were far more likely to need ‘small-business’ bailouts
Fossil fuel companies participated in the government’s bailout of small businesses at higher rates than those producing green energy and long-lasting consumer products, a new analysis found. It’s another indicator of the fossil fuel industry’s financial weakness going into the pandemic.