House Rolls Back Big Oil Subsidies

Press Release

House rolls back Big Oil subsidies

Inslee shapes bill that directs investment in clean-energy technologies, helps Washington state companies and consumers

The House approved legislation that would repeal $18 billion in tax breaks for multinational oil and gas companies, which recently reported record profits for 2007. The Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act, H.R. 5351, would shift this investment to promote the nascent U.S. clean-energy sector.

"We're wrapped around the axle of oil because of these tax subsidies," said U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), during a speech on the House floor. "It's time to change course."

The landmark legislation that passed by a vote of 236 to 182 would extend and expand key tax breaks for producers of renewable electricity, energy and fuel, and consumers who invest in energy-efficient homes, appliances and vehicles. The investment and production tax credits alone would benefit a range of companies in Washington state. Some would include AltaRock Energy, which makes geothermal technologies; the Renewable Energy Corporation, the world's largest producer of solar grade polysilicon with a production facility in Moses Lake; Imperium Renewables, the nation's largest biodiesel refinery; and Prometheus Energy, which captures methane from landfills and other sources and turns it into liquid natural gas.

"We're ready to launch a rocket of clean-energy innovation in this country, but opponents of these clean-energy investments are putting a hold on the countdown," continued Inslee, co-author of a book released last fall entitled "Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy" and proponent of initiating a New Apollo Project to do for energy what President Kennedy did for space in the 1960s. "We're about two seconds away from having a burst of economic growth in this county. If they allow these tax breaks to expire, it'll strangle the birth of new industries."

The bill included provisions authored by Inslee that would provide a $4,000 federal tax credit for consumers who buy plug-in hybrid vehicles; extend production tax credits to technologies that produce electricity by harnessing waves, tides and river currents; and, expand the 10 percent investment tax credit to facilities up to 50 megawatts in size that utilize cogeneration, which means they generate electricity and provide resulting heat to nearby homes or facilities. It also would make new investments in wind, solar, geothermal, and fuel-cell technology that will help create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and help strengthen the American economy.

A similar tax package was included in a broad House passed energy bill last year, but fell one vote shy of overcoming a Senate filibuster in December. The legislation would need Senate approval and the president's signature to become law.

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