Foreign Policy Blogs

Tax Breaks, Finally, for Renewables

Energy Boost is the title of the article from yesterday in the "Washington Post."  The Senate has agreed to " extend solar and wind energy tax breaks as part of a housing bill that is likely to win approval in the House."  This article keys in on some businesses that are happy about the tax benefits being extended here.  Senator Maria Cantwell, one of the authors of the extension, had this to say in her press release:  "The Clean Energy Tax Stimulus Act of 2008 provides the continuation of clean energy production incentives and incentives to improve energy efficiency that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, save people and businesses money, and over time reduce energy costs over time."  NRDC said:  "Extending these tax incentives is essential to moving our country in the direction of a clean energy economy that will help reduce energy bills and reduce global warming pollution." 

I've written about this numerous times, most recently at If At First You Don't Succeed   The Senate has not passed the same bill that the House did that would have rescinded $18 billion in tax breaks for the oil and gas industries.  As I like to say, though, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."  (Voltaire said it first.)

 

Author

Bill Hewitt

Bill Hewitt has been an environmental activist and professional for nearly 25 years. He was deeply involved in the battle to curtail acid rain, and was also a Sierra Club leader in New York City. He spent 11 years in public affairs for the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and worked on environmental issues for two NYC mayoral campaigns and a presidential campaign. He is a writer and editor and is the principal of Hewitt Communications. He has an M.S. in international affairs, has taught political science at Pace University, and has graduate and continuing education classes on climate change, sustainability, and energy and the environment at The Center for Global Affairs at NYU. His book, "A Newer World - Politics, Money, Technology, and What’s Really Being Done to Solve the Climate Crisis," will be out from the University Press of New England in December.



Areas of Focus:
the policy, politics, science and economics of environmental protection, sustainability, energy and climate change

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