Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) cosponsored legislation introduced by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that will measurably reduce carbon pollution over the next decade through a series of incentives for clean energy and the promotion of new technologies in the private sector. Clean Energy for America Act includes technology-neutral tax credits for domestic production of clean electricity, as well as performance-based tax incentives for energy-efficient homes and office buildings. These credits are open to all resources, including fossil fuels that capture carbon or make efficiency improvements.
“We must invest in new technologies to help harness Nevada’s abundant natural resources for clean energy production,” said Cortez Masto. “Investing in clean energy yields job creation and is good for our state’s economic development, while also helping us move toward more responsible solutions to better protect our environment. Nevada is at the forefront of the clean energy revolution and that is why I am particularly pleased that this bill would also provide a tax credit extension for clean energy technologies including geothermal, which was left out of last Congress’s compromise. I am proud to cosponsor a bill that continues to advance clean energy production and jobs in an innovative manner.”
The current system of energy incentives in the tax code is overly complex and far less effective than it should be. Today, there are 44 different energy tax incentives. More than half are too short-term to effectively stimulate investments, while also providing different subsidies to different technologies with no clear policy direction. By contrast, Clean Energy for America Act proposes a dramatically simpler set of long-term, performance-based energy tax incentives that are technology-neutral and promote clean energy production and storage in the United States.
Cosponsors of the Clean Energy for America Act include Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Tom Carper, (D-Del.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chris Coons (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Angus King (I-Maine), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.).
Legislative text can be found here. A one-page summary of the bill can be found here and a longer summary of the bill can be found here.