New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act and the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007

Floor Speech

NEW DIRECTION FOR ENERGY INDEPENDENCE, NATIONAL SECURITY, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT AND THE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENERGY CONSERVATION TAX ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - April 04, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

AMENDMENT NO. 4419

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I wish to speak to the amendment of the Senator from Nevada, Mr. Ensign, regarding renewable energy.

As much as I appreciate the fact, as the Senator from Connecticut has pointed out, that this is a housing bill and there is a mortgage crisis out there that needs to be addressed, I would also argue, first of all, that, this being the Senate, we oftentimes consider amendments to bills that are not necessarily related to the underlying base bill, and secondly, that there probably is not an issue that impacts the folks I represent in South Dakota any more than does the high cost of energy.

Now, granted, as you travel across the country--and this is true in my State, as I think it is in every State--people are following closely what is happening with the subprime mortgage crisis, and the Senate and the Congress are reacting to that with the legislation that is currently on the floor. But if you look at it in the context of the broader economy and what is impacting the pocketbooks of Americans every single day--and certainly of South Dakotans--there is no question that high energy prices are impacting the lives of everyone I represent in South Dakota. We are a very energy-dependent State, and we travel long distances; we are a farm economy, so those inputs are very important to our economic well-being. We are a cold-weather State, and so electricity is in very high demand, both during the cold-weather season but also during the hot-weather season.

It seems to me that if we are going to address the economic issues that affect this country right now, we cannot do that without taking a hard look at what we can do to make energy more affordable to people in this country. So I would argue to my colleagues who have made the point that this is, in fact, a housing bill that, notwithstanding that is the basic focus of this bill, when we look at addressing the economy, I think in the broader context this is what this whole discussion is about: how can we bring relief to hard-working people who are struggling with the economic pains created by the housing crisis, by high energy prices, by high health care costs. Those are all factors that impact the pocketbooks of everyday Americans. So I think the discussion of this renewable energy extender amendment is perfectly appropriate in the context of this debate.

I would also say, with respect to the Senator from Montana, who has worked very hard, along with the Senator from Iowa, Mr. Grassley, on an energy package that would extend many of the tax incentives that are in place for renewable energy, we have had that legislation now on the floor of the Senate several different times and have been unable to reach that magic 60-vote threshold that is necessary to end a filibuster and to move forward with the legislation. So I would argue that every opportunity we have, we need to move forward with this debate about energy and what we are going to do to lessen our dependence on foreign sources of energy to make energy more affordable to more Americans. So I think it fits perfectly within the context of this debate.

I would also say, with regard to some of the extenders that will impact those that relate to energy production in my part of the world, I am particularly interested in the wind energy production tax credit, the 2-cent-per-kilowatt credit that applies to wind, and I have talked to investors who are looking at wind energy projects across this country and who are prepared to invest capital to build wind energy production but cannot deal with the uncertainty that exists with regard to Federal policy. The wind energy production tax credit expires at the end of this year, and if we do not do something in the very near future, those who are looking at making investments--that investment capital is going to dry up. We cannot afford to have that happen at a time when we have an increasing and growing demand for energy across this country.

We are trying to look at the whole issue of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon emissions and find new renewable forms of energy that will help address our energy needs in a clean, environmentally friendly way. We cannot afford to allow these tax incentives for renewable energy production to lapse at the very time that there is investment sitting there on the sidelines waiting to invest in wind energy production and solar energy production, but with the lack of certainty that exists today because of the pending expiration of these production tax credits, that investment very well could end up staying on the sidelines and not be made. That would be a very tragic outcome, I would argue, for our country.

So I would hope that every opportunity we have here in the Senate--and frankly there will not be that many opportunities, regrettably, this year on legislation that actually is going to pass here in the Senate to which to attach these types of amendments. The Senator from Montana has said there will be a tax extender bill moving later. I hope he is right. I hope we have a window down the road to get addressed some of these tax measures that are expiring. But if, in fact, that does not happen or if it happens later in the year, sometime in the summer, we are going to miss a lot of opportunity, a lot of capital investment in wind energy and other types of renewable energy production that we otherwise would get if we had some certainty with regard to what the policy is going to be.

So, again, as much as there are jurisdictional objections being raised by the Senator from Connecticut with regard to this bill being a housing bill, the Senator from Montana regarding the need to do this later on a piece of legislation that might be a tax bill moving through the Finance Committee and ultimately out to the floor, I would simply make the case to my colleagues that timing is important. Timing really is critical with respect to whether we are going to continue to have incentives in place, economic incentives for investment in renewable energy. Frankly, based on the conversations I have had with those who are looking at making those types of capital investments in wind energy and other forms of renewable energy production, they are very concerned that Congress has yet to act.

I would much rather see a multiyear extension of the production tax credit for wind, and some of the other renewable energy tax credits, than doing this for 1 year because I do not think that provides the long-term certainty that is necessary. But I would much rather have a 1-year extension than face the prospect of this production tax credit expiring at the end of this year and us not addressing it and seeing a whole lot of capital investment that otherwise would be made in these areas of production stay on the sidelines and us continue to go down this path of increasing dependance on foreign sources of energy, growing demand for energy here in the United States, and a need to lessen the greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere and us doing nothing about that. So my fear is that if we do not act now, perhaps this thing gets punted down the road, perhaps it does not get addressed this year, in which case the production tax credit would expire. That would be a tragic outcome, a tragic result for this country and for the goals we have when it comes to renewable energy.

I would simply say to my colleagues who are going to hear objections raised on procedural grounds about dealing with these production tax credits in the context of this particular bill that we need to look at the broader picture. We have an energy crisis in this country. We have those who want to invest in renewable energy products that would help address that, that would meet all of the goals I mentioned about clean energy, about lessening our dependence upon foreign energy.

Frankly, the argument that was made by my colleague from Tennessee, Senator Alexander, with regard to wind energy being more of a localized, regional issue, that is predominately true. But so is oil production. There are lots of parts of the country that do not have certain energy sources. Yet we all rely upon all of those energy sources for our energy needs in this country. We happen to have an abundance of wind in the upper Midwest which I think has been underutilized, but it has the potential to meet the energy needs of people not just in South Dakota or North Dakota or Nebraska or Iowa or Minnesota but all across the country. We need to be making the investments in those types of energy sources, and we need to have the policies in place that would create the economic incentives for that to happen.

I hope that in spite of the objections that will be raised on some procedural grounds to moving forward, that absent action to date and having seen in the past--looking historically at what has happened to this wind energy production tax credit over time, since 1992 when it was originally enacted, every time it comes to where it is about to expire or does expire--you will see this peak investment when it is in place. When it comes to where it is running out, the investment falls off, tails off; it expires, gets put back in place, and it takes off again. We need to even that out so we don't have these peaks and valleys, that we have consistent policies in place that will provide the certainty and the necessary incentives for those who want to invest in these types of energy sources to be able to do.

So I hope we will pass the Ensign amendment and put it on this bill. The objection has been raised that this could derail the housing bill. Frankly, the House has voted not on one occasion but on several occasions already for these very same renewable energy tax credits, and I suspect that they would welcome the opportunity to have that vote again in the House of Representatives. I hope it will be part of this package because it does address the fundamental issue when it comes to our broader economy; that is, the high cost of energy that is plaguing and harming and impacting the pocketbooks of every single American.

I urge my colleagues, when we have this vote, which I assume will be early next week, to vote yes for the Ensign amendment.

I yield the floor.

Source