Next week, Wetstone expects a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on his group's most important legislative priority, a long-term extension of the wind energy production tax credit (PTC).
And because this is a logical step and a natural extension for our involvement in the energy markets.
The question is whether the regulatory structure of an economy as a whole allows, let alone encourages, business to make efficient decisions about energy usage and by extension emissions.
In addition to major pieces of legislation, Washington is embroiled in continual battles over the extension of various tax credits and energy industry programs, causing headaches in every sector of energy.
As Congressional leaders struggle to fashion an energy bill that can become law this year, one provision that's likely to be sacrificed is the extension of the tax credit for energy-saving home improvements.
American lawmakers, at any rate, seem convinced: they slipped an extension of all-important subsidies for renewable energy into the recent bail-out for financial services.
Two elements that did not make it into the Senate's bill: a one-year extension of investment tax credits for the solar energy industry and production tax credits for the wind, geothermal and biomass industries.
The wind energy industry has some breathing room with the extension of its much-valued production tax credit.
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The Solar Energy Industries Association is seeking an eight year extension of the tax credit--their top legislative priority--and they say that the majority of lawmakers in both the House and Senate support the extension.
The Institute is also an extension of IBM's long-term alliance with the energy and utilities industry as it moves forward through its most challenging transformation.
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For example, big-scale wind farmers who claim Section 45 renewable energy production tax credits would get a three-year extension, meaning they could claim the credits for facilities in operation by the end of 2010.
He mentioned the energy bill passed in 2005 and changes to Medicare and the extension of certain tax breaks in 2006.
Proponents of nuclear power say construction of new plants would likely require the extension of a federal loan guarantee program, also created by the 2005 energy act, that's set to expire in 2009.
The proposed new facility, which has the backing of economic development agency Scottish Enterprise, will be an extension of SSE's Glasgow-based Centre of Engineering Excellence for Renewable Energy.
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Still, the American Wind Energy Association says that it has bipartisan backing to pass such an extension, noting that Republican representatives in such states as Iowa and Texas are doing the heavy lifting.
The aides also said the stimulus package could provide funds to help states struggling with their own budgets, as well as infrastructure money, an extension of unemployment benefits, food stamps and more money for low-income energy assistance -- all measures that have passed the House before.
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While extending MLPs to solar and other renewable energy has a certain appeal on the basis of fairness, such an extension would require an act of Congress.
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The prerequisite, in other words, is an extension and expansion of the status quo of the last 30 years into an indefinite future of cheap energy and increasing mobility.
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