WASHINGTON – The future of federal support for clean energy technology fell into question Tuesday, after the House passed a $1.4 trillion spending package without expanding tax credits for for electric vehicles, solar panels and energy storage.
After a days-long negotiation, Democrats and Republicans agreed to a whittled down plan that included tax credit extensions for biodiesel and wind energy, but did not support many of the technologies scientists maintain are necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
“This deal will cost clean energy jobs throughout the country and stunt the growth of new industries everywhere from Arizona to Michigan, all while making our path to a 100 percent clean future that much harder,” said Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president for energy and environment policy at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress.
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The spending deal, which President Donald Trump has indicated he will sign, comes after Democrats and Republicans debated how to pay for a long list of tax credits, ranging from Native American coal plants to breweries.
But then “there was a breakthrough late in the night,” said Paul Winters, a spokesman for the trade group National Biodiesel Board.
According to draft legislation circulating Tuesday morning, the tax credit for biodiesel, which expired in 2017, would be extended through 2022, a boon for farmers and oil refineries. And the tax credit for wind turbines, which is currently winding down, will get extended for another year, giving projects begun before the end of 2020 a tax credit worth 40 percent of that awarded to existing…
Source: FuelFix
