The Impact of Federal Programs on Wetlands - Vol. II
Subsidies Affecting Wetlands
A partial list of subsidies which were found to have affected
wetlands:
- Agriculture
- price and income supports for a dozen surplus commodities
- below-market rate loans (farm ownership and operation)
- technical assistance at no cost
- crop insurance at less than actuarially sound premiums
- irrigation water at 1/10 the cost
- flood control and drainage projects at 1/4 the cost (and
prior to the mid-1980s, at much less than 1/4)
- protection from low-cost imports (e.g., sugar quotas which
benefit growers of sugarcane, sugar beets, and corn for
artificial sweeteners)
- less than full mitigation for environmental damage caused by
agricultural activities
- Urban Development
- flood control and drainage projects at 1/4 the cost (and
prior to the mid-1980s, at much less than 1/4)
- flood insurance at less than actuarially sound premiums
- repeated disaster relief at no cost at all and with weak
enforcement of requirements to take steps to self-indemnify in the future
- subsidized mortgage rates
- tax deductibility of mortgage interest and property tax
- rural electrification subsidies
- less than full mitigation for environmental damage caused by
urban projects
- Oil and Gas, Mining, Grazing, Timbering
- below-cost timber sales providing wood products to consumers
at less than full cost
- income tax subsidies for oil and gas production
- royalty-free mining on public lands
- technical assistance at no cost
- less than full mitigation for environmental damage (e.g.,
acid mine drainage, siltation in waterways due to
runoff from logging roads, degraded prairies and
western riparian areas due to over-grazing)
Return to Introduction
URL: http://www.doi.gov/oepc/wetlands2/subsidies.html
Pagemaster: smoore@usgs.gov
Revised: 06-27-96