10项最不环保的政府补贴编辑本段回目录
城市扩张、环境污染、过度消费、森林退化......无论美国纳税人喜不喜欢，他们都在为发生在美国境内外的这些事件买单。尽管政府最近在绿色行业进行了投资。但是政府对诸如石油、煤炭以及养殖场等重污染行业的一系列补贴却在从各个方面破坏着环境。而与此同时像太阳能和蔬菜农场这样的绿色健康产业却只得到很少的补贴。
10. Highways
10、高速公路
When gas prices rose dramatically in 2008, Americans began flocking to mass transit in droves, resulting in declining revenues for the Federal Highway Trust Fund. Naturally, the Bush Administration’s response was to take money from already underfunded mass transit and use it to pay for highways that are already, as Slate put it, “paved with gold”. Billions of dollars are pumped into the highway system every year, which encourages the polluting car culture and leads to further sprawl, while mass transit continues to fall by the wayside.
当2008年油价急剧上涨时，美国人成群结队地开始集体运输。这导致了联邦公路信托基金收益的减少。布什政府的自然反应就是将补贴从缺少资金的集体运输业转移至已经富得流油的高速公路系统上。每年数十亿美元流向高速公路系统，致使污染严重的汽车文化继续蔓延。而集体运输业纷纷倒闭。
9. SUVs
9、运动型多功能越野车（SUV）
In case you aren’t already taking optimal advantage of the polluting power of our nation’s sprawling web of highways, the government would like to make your impact even greater by setting you up in a nice gas-guzzling subsidized SUV. A portion of the tax code revised in 2003 gives business owners a huge deduction for up to 30% of a large vehicle’s cost, which can add up to $25,000 in the case of a Hummer – far more than the credit given to individual purchasers of energy-efficient vehicles. Attempts to axe this provision in 2007 failed.
假使你没有从国家不断扩展的破坏环境的高速公路网中获利，政府就会鼓励你购买吃油的SUV，这样你就会对环境产生更加严重的影响。2003年修改的税务法中的一部分规定：企业主购买大型车辆可减税30%，这个比例相当大。如果买一辆悍马的话可以减少25000美元的费用。这远比消费者购买节能型汽车所能得到的贷款要多。而2007年此法案仍未能得到修改。
You only get the credit if it seats more than 9 passengers or weighs more than 14,000 pounds, but they don’t really care whether your business actually requires such a vehicle. So, by all means, get the Escalade.
并且只有当你购买的车辆有超过9个座位或者重量超过14000磅时才能得到贷款。他们不管你的企业是否需要这样的车辆。所以无论如何你还是买辆凯迪拉克吧！
8. Paper Mills
8、造纸厂
Paper mills cut down trees while sucking up massive amounts of fossil fuels and get big money from the government to do it – all through a loophole in a law that was supposed to benefit renewable energy. A law enacted in 2005 contains a section that gives businesses an incentive to mix alternative energy sources with fossil fuels. To qualify for the tax credit, paper companies started adding diesel fuel to “black liquor”, a pulp-making byproduct that they were already using to generate electricity on its own.
造纸厂砍伐树木，消耗大量化石燃料。政府却给他们大笔补贴资金。而这一切都源自一项本应该有利于可再生能源发展的法律的漏洞。2005年颁布的一部法律中有一项鼓励企业混合使用可再生能源与化石能源的法案。而造纸企业正是利用了这项法案，在“黑液”中加入柴油。黑液是纸浆生产中的一种副产品，造纸厂早已用它来发电。
But time might be running out for this egregious misuse of taxpayer money: the unemployment extension bill approved by the Senate and on its way to the House would eliminate this loophole and use the funds for health care. (Editor’s note: We’ve contacted both the editor and writer of this story at BusinessWeek to confirm that this loophole will still be closed in the bill just passed by the Senate, and will update if more information becomes available. In the meantime, there’s this resource which seems to confirm the loophole is in fact being closed.)
但是可喜的是，这个滥用纳税人资金的行为可能将得到遏止：参议院批准的失业延长法案已经递交众议院，原本用于补贴造纸厂的钱将用于医疗事业。（编者注：我们已经与《商业周刊》的编辑以及本文的作者取得了联系，以确认参议院刚刚通过的这项法案中该漏洞将会得到弥补。如果有更多消息我们将及时更新。与此同时，很不幸我们失去了其他可能证实该法案的消息来源。）
7. Commercial Fishing
7、商业捕鱼
About half of the $713 million in subsidies given to the U.S. fishing industry directly contributes to overfishing, according to a new study by the Environmental Working Group. The subsidies – which equal about a fifth of the value of the catch itself – lower overhead costs and promote increased fishing capacity, meaning more fish are caught than can be naturally replaced.
七亿一千三百万美元的政府补贴当中有近一半拨给了捕鱼业。根据环境工作小组的研究，捕鱼业是导致过度捕捞的罪魁祸首。政府补贴的数额约为捕鱼业总产值的五分之一。相比其他行业，捕鱼业用于管理和促销的开支都很低。这也就意味着这项补贴将会增大捕鱼量，并且捕获量将大于自然再生量。
Overfishing is a huge environmental problem – up to 25% of the world’s fishery stocks are overexploited or depleted, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. But that’s not the only result of the subsidies; because roughly half of the money goes toward fuel costs, other consequences include wasteful fuel consumption as well as air and water pollution.
根据联合国粮农组织的报告，过度捕捞导致了严重的环境问题。全球高达25%的渔场遭到过度捕捞，或是渔业资源耗尽。但是政府补贴的后果不仅于此，因为约一半的补贴将会用于购买化石燃料。这将导致燃油浪费、空气和水污染。
6. Nuclear Power
6、核能
The nuclear industry’s decade-long, $600 million lobbying effort finally paid off as President Obama agreed to grant loan guarantees for nuclear power plants. Obama has been promising since the early days of his campaign that he would find a way to “safely harness nuclear power”, but the $55 billion taxpayer-backed loan guarantees are going forward despite continued reservations about uranium mining and the storage of radioactive waste.
核能产业长达十年之久，耗资6亿美元的游说终于有了回报：奥巴马终于同意为核能工厂提供贷款担保。自竞选初期奥巴马就一直保证他将会找到一种“安全无害的核能”。但是尽管关于铀矿开采和放射性物质的保存还存在保留意见，纳税人提供的550亿美元的贷款担保将付诸实施。
5. Factory Farming
5、工业化农业
American factory farms are literally filthy cesspools of their own making, and who else is cleaning up all that shit but American taxpayers? Giant factory farms make up just 2% of the livestock farms in the U.S. yet raise 40% of all animals in the U.S., and they do it using practices that are not only harmful to workers and the animals themselves, but to the environment.
美国的工业化农场简直就是业主自己建的肮脏的粪坑。难道除了纳税人之外就没有人回去清理那些屎吗？美国大型工业化农场只占国内牲畜农场的2%，却保有了国内40%的牲畜。他们的做法不仅对工人和牲畜有害，还破坏了环境。
The government heavily subsidizes factory farms so they can provide über-cheap meat and dairy, raising as many animals as possible in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of care. And why should they care about finding better ways to manage manure when the government hands them $125 million annually to “deal” with the consequences, and then doesn’t bother to check up on them?
政府大量补贴工业化农场，这样它们就可以提供极为廉价的肉和乳制品，在最短时间内用最少的照料保有尽可能多的牲畜，
Despite the backwards funding given to clean them up, gaping lagoons of livestock waste packed with pollutants continue to be one of the biggest environmental problems in America, fouling our water and causing those depressing dead zones in our oceans.
尽管有拨款让他们清理粪便，但是夹杂着污染物的大坨粪便一直是美国最严重的污染问题之一。它污染着我们的水源，在海洋里形成骇人的死亡区域。
4. Corn Ethanol
4、玉米乙醇
In the quest to beat back fossil fuels, cleaner fuels that we can grow seemed like a good idea – until we realized that some, like corn, make a huge dent in the world’s food supply. But that isn’t stopping the U.S. government from giving billions in subsidies to the corn industry in general, and corn ethanol in particular.
“种燃料”似乎是个摆脱化石燃料的好主意。直到我们发现一些物种，例如玉米，在世界粮食供应中大量减少。但是那无法阻止美国政府为玉米产业尤其是玉米乙醇产业发放数十亿财政补贴
Corn-based ethanol gobbled up 76% of federal government renewable energy subsidies in 2007, leaving little for more environmentally sound renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Worse yet, it’s a huge drain on water resources, gulping down up to 2,138 liters of water per liter of ethanol.
在2007年玉米乙醇得到了联邦政府可再生能源补贴的76%，只给像太阳能和风能这样的更加环保的能源留下了很少的补贴。更糟糕的是，这项产业需要大量的水。要生产一公升乙醇需要消耗2138公升水。
This isn’t just an unwise investment – it’s also destroying the rainforest. As American farmers have abandoned soy for subsidized corn, soy prices have risen worldwide – and led to an increase in Amazon deforestation. Brazil is the world’s second-largest producer of soy next to the U.S., and growing demand has meant more clear-cutting for soy plantations.
这个不明智的投资同时在毁坏雨林。美国农场不种大豆而改种玉米之后，导致全球大豆价格上涨。进而使亚马逊热带雨林面积减少。巴西是仅次于美国的第二大大豆生产国。持续增长的大豆需求也就意味着为了建大豆种植园更多的雨林将遭到砍伐。
3. Processed Foods
3、食品加工
Ethanol isn’t the only product that comes to us courtesy of U.S. corn subsidies. There’s also plenty of craptastic processed “food” products packed with multiple subsidized ingredients: wheat, sugar, soy and of course, corn. Gee, could the obesity epidemic have anything to do with the fact that our government makes junk food cheap, and encourages its consumption through the food stamp program?
乙醇并不是源自美国玉米补贴的唯一产品。还有众多受政府补贴的品质低劣的农产品：小麦、糖、大豆和玉米。天啊！难道肥胖症的流行与政府销售廉价的垃圾食品，并通过开展食品券计划鼓励垃圾食品消费没有关系吗？
It’s a sad state of affairs when a Twinkie costs less, calorically speaking, than a carrot. Meanwhile, farmers who produce fruits and vegetables (aside from corn), don’t get a dime in government subsidies. While the government is considering junk food taxes, a change to the Farm Bill might be more efficient.
当奶油蛋糕的价格变得低廉，垃圾食品而不是健康食品主导一切时，这将是国家的一个悲剧。与此同时，种植水果和蔬菜的农场主们（除了玉米种植者）没有从政府补贴中拿到一分钱。要想改变这一切，农场法的修改会比征收垃圾食品税更加有效。
2. Coal
2、煤炭
You would think that the coal industry’s long-held dominance of the American energy market would have eliminated the need for subsidies. After all, the industry spent $47 million last year on PR alone. But the fact is, coal companies are milking the government for all it’s worth while continuing to pump greenhouse gases and carcinogens into the air and turn the Appalachian Mountains into post-apocalyptic hellholes.
也许你会认为长期主导美国能源市场的煤炭行业会被排除在政府补贴之外。毕竟煤炭产业去年花了四千七百万美元在处理公共关系上。事实上，煤炭产业通过它们创造的价值哺育了美国政府。但同时它又在不断地向大气中排放温室气体和致癌物质，将阿巴拉契亚山脉变为后启示录里的地狱。
Coal subsidies have survived this long because of the industry’s staggering influence on lawmakers, and because constituents in coal states often fear the economic repercussions of a scaled-back coal industry more than they fear the harm to their health and homes. And on top of the federal coal subsidies lumped in under ‘fossil fuels’, the industry gets untold breaks on a state and local level in places like Kentucky, where the coal industry netted $115 million in subsidies in 2006.
煤炭产业之所以能够生存这么久就是因为它对立法者有着巨大的影响力。因为居住在煤炭产区的选民们更担心煤炭产业规模缩小会给当地经济带来的负面影响，而不是对他们家人健康的危害。
1. Oil
1、石油
Climate change: brought to you by the U.S. government! According to a study by the Environmental Law Institute, fossil fuels received over $70 billion in subsidies between 2002 and 2008, while traditional sources of renewable energy were given just $12.2 billion.
美国政府导致了环境变化！环境法研究所的一项研究表明，在2002年至2008年间化石燃料获得了700亿美元的补贴，而传统可再生能源只获得了122亿美元的补贴。
But the oil industry won’t even admit that the direct spending and tax breaks they get are subsidies – they prefer to call them “incentives”, and claim that attempts to roll back some of those subsidies are actually “new taxes”.
但是石油产业不会承认他们获得的直接支出和税务减免是政府补贴，他们跟喜欢称之为“激励”，并宣称试图降低政府补贴的尝试为“新税”。
As Grist notes, the ELI report is actually pretty conservative – it didn’t include things like military spending to defend oil in the Middle East or infrastructure spending. But the fossil fuel industry’s free ride is almost over: President Obama’s new federal budget proposal wipes out these breaks and increases funding for clean energy research (and, unfortunately, nuclear power).
格雷斯特说，事实上环境法研究所的报告相当保守——它不包括像军队保护中东石油和基础设施等花费。但是化石燃料产业的免费之旅即将结束。奥巴马总统的新的联邦财政预算建议书中删去了相关章节，并增加了清洁能源研究（不幸的是，所谓的清洁能源是核能）的财政支出。
