Subsidies

Many of those efforts are deemed "inefficient" examples of exploration and extraction.

Rhode Island is funding its DRIVE program with pollution settlements, turning things like "Stripper Well Oil Overcharges" into EV rebates.

An unnamed group funded by Koch Industries will attack plug-in vehicle subsidies and promoting fossil fuel transportation, perhaps as soon as this spring.

Germany's economy minister has a plan to invest the equivalent of $2.2 billion to get people to buy more plug-in vehicles.

Diesel vehicles' majority share in France may be threatened after subsidies are removed.

An analysis by the LA Times finds that the government paid out as much as $51 million in subsidies to buyers of VW's diesel models. We now know these vehicles have dishonest engine software that hides their actual emissions.

California now has an income limit to receive EV rebates, but critics want to see it reduced even further.

Honda, Toyota, and Nissan are partnering in Japan to offer up to $90,000 a year per station to subsidize the operation of hydrogen refueling stations. The program is expected to run through 2020 and could cost as much as an estimated $49 million.

According to an accounting by the LA Times, Tesla SpaceX and SolarCity have received $4.9 billion in government subsidies. However, Elon Musk has argued that the report was misleading.

Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson is in favor of removing $4 billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies and using the money to support ethanol. He also suggests a 30 percent ethanol blend in fuel.

That tailwind Toyota may be feeling in Japan won't be from a stiff breeze off the northern Pacific Ocean. The Japanese automaker is getting ready to start selling its first production hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle in its native country next year. And the government is ponying up real big in incentives, Reuters says.

When it comes to electric-vehicle subsidies in the UK, the government is selling but the public isn't buying. British ministers are saying that a two-year-old program that funds 5,000 British pounds ($7,850) worth of subsidies to buyers of electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf will be shrunken and eventually phased out after demand turned out to be quite a bit less than expected, UK's Daily Mail reports.

Wasn't it the 2012 presidential race that featured Republican candidates disparaging electric vehicle companies? Well, yes, but that doesn't mean the 2008 vice presidential candidate (and

No one would mistake a bunch of ethanol advocates for the folks at Second City, but we give the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) credit for injecting a little humor into their political statements.

We're being duped by Big Oil. The worse part is that governments around the world are working tirelessly to make sure the game is rigged in their favor. That's what Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, is saying, and he has the numbers to back the statement up.

Germany is joining the ranks of countries (e.g., US, UK, France, Japan, China, and India) that are debating the value of government subsidies and showing frustration with the turtle-like sales pace of electric vehicles (EVs). Germany has plans to subsidize EVs after its next general election to meet its target of one million (sound familiar?) units sold by 2020, but support may be waning. "The question of how we will tackle this during the next legislative period (starting late 2013) and whether

According to an Automotive News report, the U.S. government has launched a trade case that focuses on ending Chinese subsidies of its automotive industry, which threaten American auto industry jobs.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Bruder, can you spare a Euro?

If you thought last year was a bad one at the gas pump, it could've been worse. That's what one report partially funded by ethanol advocate Renewable Fuels Association says.