Although the following article focuses only on biomass and geothermal energy production and has a number of minor factual errors (and is somewhat of a typical Bulletin “puff piece”), it does contain some interesting and important information.
An important item to note is the obstructionist efforts of the Republicans to block the continuation of the exisiting credit provisions. This obstructionism was backed by the threat by Republican President George W. Bush to veto any bill that might cost Big Oil anything. It would have been appropriate for the reporter to include information on the subsidies and tax breaks Big Oil gets so the reader could compare that information with what all of the renewable energy technologies get in their entirety.
Unfortunately the reporter also failed to include that the tax credits that were not renewed also affect wind and solar energy projects as well as biomass and geothermal.
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Tax Credit Loss Worries Area’s Renewable Energy Producers
By Keith Chu – The Bulletin – December 27, 2007
Congress left key tax credits for renewable power producers on the cutting-room floor in the package of energy legislation passed last week – to the disappointment of the people behind renewable projects in Central Oregon.
The bill originally provided $6.26 billion worth of tax credits for producing several types of renewable power, along with other incentives to encourage more renewable projects. Democrats cut that half of the bill after it failed to overcome a Republican roadblock in the Senate. President Bush threatened to veto the measure because he opposed increasing taxes on oil companies to pay for the incentives.
The tax credits don’t expire until the end of 2008, but local renewable energy producers said they’d like to see them renewed as soon as possible to provide some financial certainty for the big investments they’ve put into renewable power.
