In committee
End Polluter Welfare Act of 2025
This bill eliminates numerous federal tax deductions, credits, loan programs, and research grants for coal, oil, and natural gas companies, including incentives for drilling and carbon capture. It raises federal royalty rates on public land energy leases to at least 18.75 percent, increases excise taxes on coal and crude oil, and removes statutory liability caps for companies responsible for oil spills. Additionally, the measure prohibits federal agencies and U.S.-backed international lenders from financing fossil fuel infrastructure while reinstating stricter environmental review rules and methane waste fees.
People affected—Not determinable from the text provided; the bill regulates corporate energy entities, federal leasing holders, and financial institutions rather than specifying an affected individual population count.
Fiscal magnitude—no CBO estimate published
Reach82provisional · pending reviewrigor: heuristic llm
What this bill touches.
Aid & alliances−40Federal lands & resources+55Pollution & development+60Overall tax level+50Energy sources+70Greenhouse-gas policy+65Business taxation+65
Who it helps · who it burdens.
Who it helps
- Renewable energy project developersRepeals requirements that conditioned federal rights-of-way and leases for wind and solar projects on first holding mandatory onshore and offshore oil and gas lease sales.
Who it burdens
- Oil and natural gas producersIncreases onshore and offshore federal royalty rates to 18.75%, repeals deepwater and deep-well royalty relief, eliminates immediate expensing of intangible drilling costs (amortizing them over 84 months), eliminates percentage depletion, terminates enhanced oil recovery and marginal well tax credits, imposes a Gulf of Mexico severance tax, ends LIFO inventory accounting, bars Master Limited Partnership tax status, removes liability caps under the Oil Pollution Act, and reinstates the methane waste emissions charge.
- Coal mining operators and coal royalty recipientsIncreases federal onshore coal royalty rates to 18.75%, raises excise taxes on mined coal to $1.38/ton for underground coal and $0.69/ton for surface coal, eliminates percentage depletion, repeals capital gains treatment for coal royalties, amortizes mine development and exploration costs over 84 months, terminates production tax credits for refined coal, and removes metallurgical coal from advanced manufacturing tax credits.
- Hydrogen production facilitiesLowers the base tax credit rate and imposes stringent sourcing requirements (requiring power to come from new, local renewable facilities operating within one hour of use) to qualify for the Section 45V clean hydrogen production credit, while barring DOE loan support for non-qualified hydrogen.
- Large banks and major investment firmsRemoves the CERCLA lender liability protection from Superfund cleanups for bank holding companies with $10 billion or more in assets and investment advisers, funds, or broker-dealers managing $250 billion or more in assets that hold security interests in contaminated sites.
- International financial institutionsFaces rescissions of appropriated U.S. funding and a complete ban on receiving future U.S. contributions unless they agree not to finance any projects supporting the production or use of fossil fuels.
- Rail and port operators transporting fossil fuelsProhibits the Department of Transportation from awarding grants, loans, loan guarantees, or direct assistance to any rail facility or port project that transports fossil fuels.
Who backs it
- Petroleum refiners and crude oil importersPays a 10-cent-per-barrel tax into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund when balances drop below $2 billion, expands the tax to synthetic crude, bitumen, tar sands, and coal liquids, and prohibits customs drawback refunds of these taxes upon export.
Who opposes it
- Carbon capture and sequestration developersTerminates the Section 45Q tax credit for carbon oxide captured after enactment, mandates public disclosure of past tax credit claimants and amounts, eliminates USDA assistance for carbon capture systems, and prohibits DOE loan guarantees and research funding for carbon capture.
- Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon ManagementTerminates the office entirely, rescinds all of its unobligated appropriations, and limits future spending strictly to the closeout of ongoing research activities.