House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin (D-Mich.) has launched a series of hearings in view of making more permanent key renewable energy subsidies and tax incentives implemented as part of the stimulus law.
The hearings come as Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R – S.C.) plan to unveil their version of a climate change and energy law on April 26th, a little less than a year after the House passed their own version the bill.
The Kerry – Lieberman – Graham proposal, which is expected to include some form of carbon pricing, should bring more long-term certainty to a sector that so far continues to rely on temporary measures renewed every year or two.
There is a realization in Washington that to beat the Chinese in the ongoing renewable energy race, the U.S. needs to a long-term clean energy law with, many say, a cap-and-trade provision. Pricing carbon would only help cut CO2 and green house gases emissions, it would also unlock new revenues to support the renewable energy industry over the long-term.
Earlier this month, 19 governors (Democrats and Republicans) wrote President Obama urging for an extension of the cleantech manufacturing tax credit. “Expanding the 48C Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit will support new waves of domestic production and innovative new jobs and careers,” the governors told Obama.
In launching the hearings this week Chairman Levin said his committee would consider expanding the cleantech manufacturing tax credit and other incentives.
The renewable energy industry is pushing for Congress to extend the very popular 1603 direct cash grants, co-administered by the Department of Energy and the Treasury Department. The incentives, launched last year in lieu of the investment tax credits, fund up to 30 percent of a wind or solar project’s development cost with a direct cash handout.
ClimateWire reports that the Treasury Department has already surpassed the $3 billion in renewable energy grants it anticipated it would distribute by the end of 2010. As for the cleantech manufacturing tax credits the administration has requested another $5 billion in its fiscal 2011 budget.
What other policy idea should be included in a comprehensive clean energy law? Read guest-blogger Michael Zimmer’s recent post: “10 Proposals For a Comprehensive Clean Energy Policy.”
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