Page 9 - NorthAmOil Week 32 2021

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House Democrats seek more clean energy spending
US
THE US Senate has passed a bipartisan infra- structure bill including electricity grid spending – and already House Democrats are lining up to push for more clean energy spending as the legislation continues to wend its way through Congress.
Nearly 200 Democrats in the House of Rep- resentatives on August 10 called on their party’s leadership to include additional clean-energy policies in an infrastructure package going forward.
They called for: long-term extensions and expansions to the Production Tax Credit and Investment Tax Credit to meet President Bid- en’s goal of a carbon pollution-free power sec- tor by 2035; extension and modernisation of tax incentives for commercial and residential energy efficiency improvements and residential electrification; extensions and modifications of incentives for clean transportation options and alternative fuel infrastructure; and support of domestic clean energy, energy efficiency, and clean transportation manufacturing.
The Congress members wrote: “The clean energy sector was projected to add 175,000 jobs in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic upended the industry and roughly 300,000 clean energy workers were still out of work in the beginning of 2021. Clean energy, energy efficiency, and clean transportation tax incen- tives are an important part of bringing these workers back. It is critical that these policies
support strong labour standards and domestic manufacturing.
They continued: “The importance of clean energy tax policy is made even more apparent and urgent with record high temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, unprecedented drought across the West, and the impacts of tropical storms felt up and down the East Coast.”
The letter shows how much momentum for more clean-energy provisions is already build- ing, even with months of jockeying and debate ahead.
The Senate had passed the $1 trillion biparti- san bill, which includes $73bn for grid modern- isation, earlier on August 10. The Senate version must now go to the House of Representatives, where Democrats are also to consider a $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill, with far more com- prehensive clean-energy spending including a clean energy standard, according to a frame- work released on August 8. Such a standard would require utilities to ramp up their sourcing of electricity from clean technologies.
Details of the $3.5 trillion package have not been released. Additionally, the House speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she will not take up one plan without the other, a daunting task that will require a great deal of political horse-trading from Democrats. The party has a razor-thin margin in the Senate and a slim margin in the House. Debate is certain to con- tinue into the autumn.™
The letter shows how much momentum for more clean- energy provisions is already building.
Week 32 12•August•2021 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
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