Las Vegas, Nev. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) released the following statement applauding the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to update essential tax credit rules to support the country’s critical mineral supply chain. Cortez Masto repeatedly called on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to make this change and allow critical mineral mining and processing to qualify for Inflation Reduction Act manufacturingtax credits.
“This tax credit was created to help support our entire clean energy supply chain – including our domestic critical mineral industries,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “I’m happy to see the administration heed my call make much-needed updates to their 45X tax credit guidance. Now, this credit will do what we intended for it to do – create jobs, reduce our reliance on China, and power our whole clean energy economy.”
Raw materials and domestic extraction costs will now qualify for the 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit, which was created by the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce reliance on China for essential energy and defense technologies. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s initial proposed rule excluded these costs, which sharply reduced the value of the credit for critical mineral mining and processing industries. This update allows the tax credit to support the entire domestic clean energy supply chain, including mining and battery production. Cortez Masto worked with Senators John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Bob Casey (D-Penn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) to push for this vital update.
Through Senator Cortez Masto’s Innovation State Initiative, she has consistently worked to support Nevada’s critical mineral and battery supply chains and create good-paying clean energy jobs. She wrote important provisions of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to promote Nevada’s mining and battery industries, set up a sustainable critical mineral supply chain, and help build out Nevada’s electric vehicle infrastructure. She has consistently blocked burdensome taxes on mining and introduced bipartisan legislation to protect critical mineral production in response to the misguided Rosemont decision, which is threatening mining projects in Nevada and across the West.