State of Michigan gives oil company a $100 Million tax exemption, even though the same company made $21.3 Billion in profits last year

On Tuesday, MLive ran a story headlined, Chevron turning manure into energy at dairy farms throughout Michigan.

The article stated early on in the story: 

“A joint venture between Chevron and Brightmark RNG, a waste solutions company, has invested in five anaerobic digesters to convert animal waste into renewable fuels at dairy farms in Greenville, Hartford, Morenci, Orleans and Coopersville.”

Converting animal waste into fuel is not necessarily a bad idea, but why would the State of Michigan provides such a large tax exemption to one of the largest oil companies on the planet? The MLive article states: 

“The Michigan Strategic Fund gave Chevron approval for the bond authorization during its Oct. 22 board meeting. This makes bonds issued by a private financial institution tax-exempt through the state.”

The Michigan Strategic Fund is a state entity that was created by former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and its board is made up of mostly business people. The MLive article goes on to say:

“Bank of America will be the underwriter for the bond, according to a project memo.”

The fact that Bank of America is underwriting the bond is not surprising, since Bank of America is third on the list of banks that are funding the climate crisis, according to a report by the Indigenous Environmental Network, entitled, Banking on Climate Chaos: Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2024.

What is equally as infuriating is the fact that the Michigan Strategic Fund provided Chevron with a $100 Million tax exemption for this project. To put this into context, Chevron made a profit of $21.3 billion in 2023, which was down from the previous year. 

These profits by Chevron and other oil companies also happened in the hottest recorded year since scientists began tracking it. 

On top of all of this, Chevron spends a great deal of money to buy political influence at the federal level, according to Open Secrets. This influence peddling has exponentially increased in recent years, as is reflected in the graphic below, which is also from opensecrets.org.

While I am grateful that MLive reported on this matter, they failed to ask the fundamental questions that I am raising about Chevron’s profits, their role in perpetuating the Climate Crisis and how the company influences public policy. We need more from the news media so that the people in Michigan can not only be better informed, but can take action, especially when it comes to providing massive tax breaks to corporations that have more money than some countries and are part of the global oil cartel.