THE 2007 CONGRESSIONAL ENERGY BILL - WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Source: Solar Nation
http://www.solar-nation.org/2007/10/04/2007-energy-bill/
October 4, 2007
As is usual with Washington legislation, the 2007 Energy Bill in its current House/Senate conference stage consists of two mismatched documents seeking some kind of union.
Early in the year the Senate debated and passed its version of the bill (HR6), and at literally the eleventh hour the House voted on its own version, HR3221; (in fact, Speaker Pelosi was so insistent on passing it that legislators worked through to Saturday August 4th on the bill before recessing for the month!) The two bills, as is also fairly common in Washington, left their respective chambers looking like two jigsaws with their pieces intermixed. Provisions such as a 15% Federal Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard, production incentive payments on new biofuels production, funding for geothermal and solar R&D programs, tax incentives for energy efficiency measures, and curtailing of tax breaks for the oil & gas industry can all be found in the House bill but are absent from the Senate’s. The Senate’s version, by contrast, provides for renewable fuel standards and minimum fuel economy standards for automobiles, and outlaws price gouging by fuel companies during energy emergencies.
But perhaps the most glaring shortcomings of the individual bills are these:
No extension of the residential Investment Tax Credit under the House bill (six-year extension under the Senate’s); if the Senate version is not adopted, there will be no tax incentive to help individuals install solar power on their homes.
No tax title under the Senate bill; without a tax title, programs contained in the bill cannot be funded.
Two Bills Enter, One Bill Leaves
Now that Congress is back at work, it’s time for House and Senate conferees to mold these two documents into a single, workable bill. Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi have their hearts in getting this legislation passed. If they had brought an incomplete bill to the floor, Republicans could have pulled its teeth with amendments or killed it with filibustering; conversely, if they had proceeded with a formal conference committee, Republicans could have achieved the same effect by objecting to conference nominees. Instead, the Democrats are conferencing the bill informally, giving it the best chance of proceeding to an up-or-down vote in both houses. (Paradoxically, this approach may have convinced Republicans to play nicely; Senator Trent Lott has said recently that he does not believe his party would obstruct the process).
All may not yet be well, however. The latest we hear is of a move among conferees to keep investment tax credits in the bill for commercial buildings, but not for residences. This would put a huge stumbling block in the clean energy road, preventing millions of individuals from installing solar and crippling growth in the solar industry. It would mean that the only help that Solar Citizens could expect would come from their State–assuming the State was willing and able to fund tax credits, for which there’s no guarantee and definitely no timeline.
So expect to hear from us again soon! We are in a no-holds-barred fight to give solar energy its place in the sun, and in the life of our nation. We’ll be carrying out another Action in the next few days to press Congress to vote for the future, not the past.
We hope to have your help then!
P.S. The action that we started last week, with solar citizens pressing their congresspersons to keep strong solar provisions in the Energy Bill, is still going strong. If you have friends, colleagues or family who could add their voice to this action, why not pass the link below on to them so we can keep the volume level up?
http://capwiz.com/re-action/go/solarprovisions
Thanks for your help!
