End Polluter Welfare Act of 2025
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Sanders (for himself, Ms. Warren, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Welch, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This legislation systematically eliminates federal financial support for fossil fuel companies. It ends tax credits and deductions for oil, gas, and coal production, raises royalty rates on federal lands, removes liability caps for oil spills, and prohibits federal agencies from funding fossil fuel projects.
Who Benefits and How
Renewable energy companies face less competition from subsidized fossil fuels. Federal taxpayers may see increased revenue from higher royalty rates (raised from 12.5-16.67% to 18.75%) and eliminated tax expenditures. Environmental groups and communities near drilling sites benefit from unlimited liability for oil spills and pollution cleanup.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Oil, gas, and coal companies lose numerous tax benefits including the enhanced oil recovery credit, percentage depletion, intangible drilling cost deductions, and accelerated depreciation. Coal mining companies face higher reclamation costs without the special tax treatment. Large financial institutions (banks with $10B+ in assets, investment firms with $250B+ under management) lose CERCLA liability protections when lending to polluting facilities.
Key Provisions
- Terminates 15+ specific fossil fuel tax credits and deductions effective upon enactment
- Raises federal royalty rates on oil, gas, and coal leases from 12.5-16.67% to 18.75%
- Removes $75 million liability cap for offshore oil spills
- Prohibits DOE, USDA, Export-Import Bank, and DFC from funding fossil fuel projects
- Eliminates lender liability protections under CERCLA for large financial institutions
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Eliminates federal subsidies, tax breaks, and financial support for fossil fuel production, refining, and transportation while increasing royalty rates and environmental liability for the industry.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Comprehensive elimination of fossil fuel subsidies through both direct spending cuts and tax code changes to increase industry costs and level the playing field with renewables"
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary_energy"
- → Secretary of Energy
- "the_secretary_treasury"
- → Secretary of the Treasury
- "the_secretary_agriculture"
- → Secretary of Agriculture
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Treasury
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Coal, petroleum, natural gas, or any derivative of coal, petroleum, or natural gas that is used for fuel.
The exploration, development, mining or production, processing, refining, transportation (including pipelines transporting gas, oil, or products thereof), distribution, or marketing of coal, petroleum, natural gas, or any derivative that is used for fuel.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology