Energy bill falls short in Senate vote
From the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA):
In a Senate procedural vote on June 21, a tax package containing a five-year production tax credit (PTC) extension as well as a new small-turbine credit was derailed from becoming part of a broader energy policy bill.
Although there were 57 votes to cut off debate on the tax package, and only 36 opposed, it did not receive the 60 votes necessary to defeat a filibuster. Later that day, the Senate approved a limited energy policy bill that also does not contain Democrats’ call for a national renewables portfolio standard (RPS) aimed at boosting reliance on wind, biomass, and other forms of clean energy (see related story). The tax package rejected by the Senate would have cost about $28 billion over 10 years. Under the Democrats’ “pay-as-you-go” budgeting, the bulk of the funding would have come from cutting existing oil and gas subsidies. The legislation called for the PTC to be extended through 2013.
“Given the opportunity for a straight up-or-down vote in the Senate, we would have prevailed on both a five-year PTC extension and a federal RPS,” said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. “We were not given that opportunity.”
Meanwhile, as the Senate bill moves ahead without tax provisions and minus a renewable portfolio standard, the House of Representatives is moving toward adopting a more modest energy tax package, pegged at about $14 billion. That package, which the House Ways & Means Committee approved on June 22, contains a four-year PTC. The bill, however, includes a new complex financial cap that AWEA opposes because it would create financial uncertainty within the industry and cause far fewer wind projects to get built. In contrast to the current PTC, the proposed House version would penalize projects with the highest capacity factors. The bill’s next step is to go to the floor of the full House.
“Wind Energy in general, and the PTC in particular, continue to have huge support,” said AWEA Legislative Director Jaime Steve. “We will gain a full value, long-term extension and a new small turbine tax credit.”
The House energy tax package also contains a new investment tax credit for the purchase of small wind systems for homes and farms. Should the full House approve it, the issue would move on to a House-Senate conference committee, which is the mechanism for ironing out differences between distinctly different energy bills adopted by the two chambers on Capitol Hill.
