Democrats Fight to Extend the Green Stimulus from The Recovery Act in the Tax Hostage Drama

December 9th, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

Republicans are demanding that President Obama take the extension of renewable tax credits off the table in the deal they negotiated in return for bonus tax cuts for the rich, according to Politico.

But Democrats are fighting to allow an up or down vote on an extension of the Recovery Act green stimulus provisions that are about to expire. The extension, Baucus Amendment 4727, already got 53 votes on Saturday’s failed vote to extend Bush era tax cuts on just the first $250,000 of income, indicating that without a Republican filibuster, the measure would pass.

Two green stimulus provisions in particular, are endangered. (Ethanol extensions have Republican support.)

The two expiring provisions are:

Green energy R&D manufacturing tax credits which are used to begin the conversion of rust belt factories to wind turbine production or the development of new more energy efficient technologies, and the Section 1603 cash grants for solar and wind which are fueling an unprecedented amount of new solar and wind projects.

“These are some of the biggest potential job producers in the country,” California’s Senator Feinstein told Politico. “And it’s dependent on these Treasury grant programs for the most part.”

Republicans prevented an up or down vote in the tax vote last weekend in their familiar blocking tactic (the filibuster), because the tax cuts were only on the first $250,000 of income in the tax bill.

But it appears that there’s more than wealthy taxpayers’ rights that matters to the Republican Senators. They want the expiring renewable energy tax cuts taken out of the bill.

As renewable energy is becoming more competitive, partly as a result of the Recovery Act investments, clean energy policy is being fought hard by the fossil-fuel subsidies lobby and their proxies in the GOP.

There is a need for both the renewable energy provisions to be extended some time to take effect, and they are not costly to the general treasury.

So far, as of November 2010, only $11 billion of the green stimulus money has actually been cashed, according to publicly available data at Recovery.gov.

Partly, this is because much of the Recovery Act green energy stimulus has been in the form of loan guarantees that then prompted the private sector to step up and invest in green companies. A loan guarantee is not cash out the door. The taxpayer is out relatively little actual money because of the way the green stimulus was designed. Incentives like tax credits that won’t be counted till next tax year.

But part of the problem is also due to the unprecedented nature of the green energy push. State-level bureaucrats responsible for approving new renewable infrastructure have been overwhelmed by the sheer number and size of the new large scale renewable energy projects that must be approved by the deadline of the end of this month.

As a result, many solar and wind companies have not yet got final approvals from officials to build the new renewable energy infrastructure, which takes 18 months or more to pass environmental reviews. There’s no Haliburton Exemptions for solar or wind!

It is clear that it takes a little more time than a year and a half to completely revamp the US energy infrastructure to prepare for the new clean energy economy of the 21st century.

Image: Orange Juice Blog
Susan Kraemer@Twitter

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Tags: progressive legislation, Section 1603, tax bill, The Recovery Act

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

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Tyler Dillon

What’s with all the targeting of Limbaugh? I love coming to this site for its lack of partisanship. But you’ve got an innaccuracy: you claim

“But it appears that there’s more than wealthy taxpayers’ rights that matters to the Republican Senators. They want the expiring renewable energy tax cuts taken out of the bill.”

From the article you reference:

“Along with the possible decrease in the ethanol credit, the White House also specifically cut out of their deal with Republicans $1.4 billion in federal grants that would boost wind, solar, geothermal and biomass projects.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46153.html#ixzz17il0fszK

The article does not state at whose request this was performed, but you have ascribed it to the Republicans instead of simply stating the White House removed it. While this is a political issue, it isn’t a Republican vs. Democratic issue. Don’t attempt to turn it into one, or you will lose the growing number of eco-conservatives.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  Tyler, the Republicans spent the last year preventing any clean energy legislation. They last filibustered this provision last Saturday. It only got passed initially because of the Democrats (+Specter) Obama Recovery Act.
  
  It has always been the Republican Senators, unfortunately, who specifically resist renewable policy. This is no different than their filibuster of renewables over the last ten years (the roll call votes are facts documented in the more than 50 renewable votes since 1993 and rated by VoteSmart, Factcheck and LCV).
  
  Obama and the Democrats snuck this green stimulus funding into the Recovery Act to get around that fact, and are behind extending it now.
  
  But it is wonderful to hear that there are finally eco voters on your side. If you are an eco conservative, the first step in getting your Senators to change is to pressure them to stop their obstruction.
  
  It makes no sense to be against what helps our country have a safe landing in the mad max future we will all otherwise be headed for.
  
  Please contact your Republican Senator and let them know you are out there and you are on the side of renewable energy, at (202) 224 3121. It is past time for your side to pressure them.