Green Scissors 2011 builds on last year’s report by advancing cuts that could potentially save taxpayers $380 billion or more over five years. The report makes the case that the federal government can help protect our natural resources, reduce the growth of government spending, and make a significant dent in the national debt by eliminating harmful spending.

The Green Scissors report finds cuts in energy, agriculture, transportation, and land and water projects. Targets include massive giveaways of publicly-owned resources such as timber, oil and natural gas and minerals, poorly conceived road projects and a bevy of questionable Army Corps of Engineers water projects.

As highlighted in the report, the federal government could end the following programs and save the United States:

• $72,000,000,000 for general revenue transfers to the Highway Trust Fund,
• $30,000,000,000 for crop insurance, and
• $4, 820,000,000 for Oil and Gas Royalty relief.

Friends of the Earth has been working on identifying and eliminating environmentally harmful spending with the Green Scissors report since 1995, and Taxpayers for Common Sense has been our partner for 15 years. Public Citizen joined the coalition in 2010, and The Heartland Institute joined the coalition for Green Scissors 2011, after endorsing the 2010 report. All four of our groups have different missions and different views about the role of government, but Green Scissors represents some key areas where we all can agree.

Green_Scissors_2011 (pdf) | coalition press release | telenews conference audio

Download the report here: GreenScissors2010

The Greening the Budget (Virginia) 2005 report identifies critical areas in which reforms can produce both environmental and fiscal benefits, thus producing two-fold benefits for Virginia’s taxpayers. Reforming subsidy programs, eliminating wasteful expenditures, ensuring that Virginia gets its full share of federal dollars to address problems of congestion and poor air quality, and making sure that industries adversely affecting the environment bear the costs of their activities, are important components of sound fiscal and environmental policy.

Read Greening the Budget 2005 – Virginia.

The Green Fees & Scissors in Texas 2005 report offers thirteen fiscally sound recommendations to help ease the Texas budget crisis while discouraging pollution and natural resource degradation. All told, these 13 recommendations could free up at least $300 million and perhaps more than $1 billion for the state’s budget writers, either through the creation of additional fees, appropriating fees that are already created or ending tax loopholes and cutting costly programs.

Read Green Fees & Scissors in Texas 2005.

The majority of surface transportation money is spent on highways and roads. In 2001, federal, state, and local taxpayers spent approximately $104 billion on highways, and $27.8 billion of that total came from federal funds. Transit spending that year totaled $32.4 billion, with $5.3 billion from federal funds. Federal policy has created a system where highway projects receive more money and are more easily approved than other transportation projects, yet highway projects are subject to less federal oversight. The resulting inefficiency has created a situation in which spending on highways has soared to record levels, yet congestion is increasing and many of our existing roads and bridges remain in disrepair.

Road to Ruin highlights 27 proposed federal-aid highway projects from every region in the country. All of these projects face significant public opposition because they would waste tax dollars and cause significant and unnecessary harm to communities, the environment, and public health. Hundreds of projects were reviewed for Road to Ruin. Each highlights problems with federal transportation spending and raises questions about how transportation projects are approved.

Read Road to Ruin 2004.

Green Watchdog believes that environmental protection and strict fiscal accountability go hand-in-hand. In fact, pollution is most often the result of poor accountability, allowing corporations or individuals to take advantage of free public resources to the detriment of our health and environment. The 2004 Green Watchdog report, the fourth in a series of annual reports, provides 10 budget recommendations that would improve California’s environment and public health while restoring fiscal accountability.

Read Green Watchdog 2004.

Eleven fiscally sound and environmentally friendly “green budget” policies evaluated in the Greening the Budget (Maryland) 2004 report could improve the outlook for Maryland’s environment, while simultaneously increasing state revenues by at least $145 million in the next full fiscal year, with up to $3 billion in long-term savings. Closing harmful loopholes in the tax code, eliminating unfair subsidies for pollution, and cutting wasteful projects would create financial disincentives for sprawling growth, air pollution, wetlands development, overuse of groundwater, and other environmentally damaging activities. At the same time, these policy changes could help address the severe fiscal crisis facing the state.

Read Greening the Budget 2004 – Maryland.

The Green Scissors Campaign and report offer a few practical solutions to policymakers that will assist in reducing the federal deficit while simultaneously protecting the environment. These are win-win solutions that benefit taxpayers and the environment; the public and politicians; and provide an invaluable opportunity for decisionmakers to navigate the challenging fiscal and environmental decisions that lie ahead.

The Green Scissors 2004 report targets five issues:
• Delaware River Deepening Project
• Market Access Program
• Section 29 Tax Credit for Nonconventional Fuels
• Small Business Tax Credit for Sport Utility Vehicles
• Timber Roads Subsidies

Read Green Scissors 2004.

The District of Columbia Green Scissors 2003 report offers attainable and realistic solutions to help reconcile the District’s revenue shortages and improve the environment. This report highlights more than $642 million in budget savings that could be obtained by ending wasteful transportation projects, reforming the property tax system, and requiring the beneficiaries of the District’s environmental infrastructure to pay their fair share. Adopting the recommendations in this report will save money and improve the environment.

Read Green Scissors 2003 – District of Columbia.

The Green Scissors 2003 report outlines a clear path toward fiscal and environmental responsibility and calls upon Congress to eliminate environmentally harmful and fiscally wasteful programs. The report includes 68 recommendations that would reduce unnecessary government spending by more than $58 billion and help guide our nation towards a more sustainable economic and ecological future.

Read Green Scissors 2003.