Economic Stimulus vs Renewable Energy
Strange, but true. With all the focus on the gloomy credit markets and national politics, there has been surprisingly little media attention on federal lawmakers quietly killing the renewable energy tax credit extension last December in order to use the funds for the economic stimulus package.
At least that is the accusation being made by the renewable energy industry. The wildly popular $5.5 billion in federal tax incentives for renewable energy - officially called the federal Production Tax Credit - was reportedly used to fund the economic stimulus package instead.
To get a sense of how surprising this is, keep in mind that most people in the renewable energy industry have been high-fivin’ themselves over presumed passage of the tax credit extension for over a year. Actually, a lot of us in the green building industry had been high-fivin’ each other, too. Its passage was deemed to be virtually certain. One comment to the news echoed the cynical disbelief of many:
“Can you imagine what the renewables industry could do with 10% of the $500 billion we just spent trying to steal Iraq’s oil?” - Commenter, RenewableEnergyAccess.com
However, the renewable energy industry is not taking this one sitting down. Cleantech Revolution co-author Clint Wilder went on a lengthy tirade about federal clean-tech policy, calling it the ‘Theater of the Absurd’. Read it for yourself.
As of last Friday, the Senate Finance Committee announced that it had included the Production Tax Credit extensions in its own version of an economic stimulus package.
The word is that the vote for this updated version of the economic stimulus package has been delayed until after Super Tuesday. It will happen next week. Everyone in green building should keep their fingers crossed.
