Press Releases
Final PPP Data Reveals Oil, Gas, and Mining Scored Billions While Wind and Solar Were Left in the Cold
Analysis Finds 70% of All Oil, Gas, Mining Sector Corporations Awarded PPP Bailout
HELENA, MT – New analysis finds that the Trump Small Business Administration’s (SBA) flawed Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been abused by fossil fuel and extractive corporations to rake in billions of dollars. In striking contrast, only 1,100 recipients in the wind and solar sector were awarded funds, while over 22,000 polluting extractive resource corporation cashed in after a review of SBA data.
Actual struggling businesses that need pandemic relief are not getting it, while billions have flowed to oil, gas, and mining corporations and their wealthy CEOs. It’s no coincidence — but certainly a disservice to taxpayers — that the clean energy wind and solar sector was awarded little in comparison to polluters from the Trump administration."
Jayson O’Neill, spokesperson for Accountable.US
In total, 22,382 oil, gas, mining and related extractive resource corporations received a staggering $4,530,469,847 in taxpayer-funded monies through the PPP. In contrast, the wind and solar sector received a total of $164,987,228, going to some 1,133 businesses. The average loan amount was nearly 40% higher for extractive resource corporations as well.
Data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics shows that 31,992 private oil, gas, and mining establishments are currently operating in the United States, meaning 70% of all the entire sector received a PPP bailout, up 8% from a previous analysis by Accountable.US. In total, a new report by Bailout Watch finds that the fossil fuel sector may have received upwards of $15.2 billion from the Trump administration during the pandemic.
The renewable energy sector has struggled during the economic downturn, shedding almost half a million jobs. The Trump administration has ignored calls to invest in a cleaner energy future that would create millions of jobs, instead using taxpayer money to prop up many polluting corporations that were in deep financial trouble well before the pandemic.
Accountable.US has been tracking the administration’s failure to get aid to those who need it most on its website, www.COVIDBailoutTracker.com, where the new SBA PPP data as well as all previously publicly released PPP data and additional CARES Act program spending is posted in a searchable format. The group will be analyzing the new data and releasing its findings on a rolling basis at the PPP Live Blog.
