Senate deadlocked on clean-energy tax credits
For the fourth time this summer, Democrats have failed to push through vital renewable energy legislation
By Ben Whitford
No pot of gold at the end of the clean energy rainbow
Virtually everyone in Washington wants to extend tax credits for renewable-energy companies before they expire at the end of this year. The measures, designed to help companies overcome the colossal startup costs associated with new wind and solar plants, have spurred billions of dollars in new investments and created tens of thousands of jobs; they’ve proved such a hit that even Oklahoma’s Sen. James Inhofe, perhaps the Senate’s most fervent climate-change denier, is an outspoken supporter. But despite broad bipartisan support, in recent months the Senate’s Democratic leaders have failed three times to push through a so-called “extender bill” to renew the measures; and today they failed for a fourth time, falling nine short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster and begin formal discussion of the legislation.
That’s bad news for energy entrepreneurs, who say that lawmakers’ lollygagging has already triggered a sector-wide slowdown. The tax credits - worth 2 cents per kilowatt-hour for wind power and 30 percent of new investments for solar - can only be claimed if they are active at the precise moment that a new power facility comes online, so many companies are rethinking scheduled expansions. “Although the credits don’t end until Dec 31, we’re seeing the impact now,” says Jared Blanton, a spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries Association. “Companies don’t know what the US playing field is going to look like, so a lot of large-scale projects are going overseas.”
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