The Senate Should be Ashamed
Yesterday, the Senate passed a “do nothing energy” bill with a vote of 65-27.
The bill ignores the challenge from the Bush Administration to cut gasoline usage 20% by 2010 – adopting weak CAFE standards that won’t be in force until 2020. That’s what’s getting the ink this morning.
But, far more troubling to the renewable energy industry is the cut of $32 in production and investment tax credits. This means project developers are again in the midst of the boom/bust cycle of annual renewals (sometimes, expiration tends to happen before renewal.) Long term, these credits should not be necessary. But until and unless the fossil fuel industry has to work within a carbon cap or tax environment – which would begin to finally make the true cost of harnessing fossil fuel for power visible – the incentives are necessary to gain access to funding, both equity and debt.
This bill is worse the do nothing, it’s downright harmful. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised to take up the incentives in the next session. In the meantime, untold gigawatts of renewable energy projects have just pressed the hold button while Congress puts its head in the sand. We’re glad you’re all so concerned about: energy security (aka national security) and climate change. Way to hold the US to a high standard, the CAFE standard adopted would get the US to Europe’s present level – in more than a decade. Next up: The Senate’s boat building bill. After seeing the movie Evan Almighty over the recess, it occurs to the leaders in our Congress that boats are good. Let’s just spend another several hundred billion dollars building them, shall we? We’ll need it on the coasts and soon to be large inland sea (formerly known as the Great Plains – other things come from there too, right? Like food…nevermind, it can wait.)
Great leadership. Inspiring. Enjoy your summer vacation.
This opinion piece was authored by Mike Harding and does not necessarily reflect the views of Montara Energy Ventures or its other partners.
