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House Passes Energy Bill with Tax
Credit Extension
While tax breaks for energy efficient windows are set to expire at the end of December, the House of Representatives passed a new version of an energy bill last Friday that would extend those credits another year. The 2007 Energy Independence and Security bill also seeks to push automobile efficiency standards higher, cut tax incentives given to oil companies in the 2005 energy bill and require utilities to use more renewable energy sources.
Other provisions in the House bill seek to increase the energy efficiency of commercial and federal buildings, higher efficiency standards for manufactured housing and a phase out of incandescent lighting. Left out of the new bill were requirements in the previous House version that would have called for states to increase code requirements by 30 percent and 50 percent in 2010 and 2020, respectively. The National Association of Home Builders, along with real estate interests, had lobbied against these building code provisions, while more than 50 groups representing utilities, insulation manufacturers, environmental advocates and state energy offices lobbied to keep those measures in the bill.
The House bill still has widespread backing from environmentalist groups, as well as some security hawks concerned about U.S. dependence on imported oil, however its future is very much in doubt. Efforts by Democrats to get a quick, up-and-down vote on the bill in the Senate have already failed. It is therefore likely that certain measures will have to be dropped or added in order to get enough Republican support for passage.
President Bush, who objects to the bill’s tax provisions on oil companies, as well as other provisions, has threatened to veto the legislation. A statement from the White House press secretary said the proposal “would raise taxes and increase energy prices for Americans,” and urged the Senate to “take a more cooperative approach and put forth a bill the President can sign.”
“This bill takes greater strides to increase our nation’s energy efficiency than any other legislation in decades,” says Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy. “While it does not include everything that energy-efficiency advocates would want, it includes many needed, credible steps.”
Certain elements of the most recent bill, most notably an increase in fuel efficiency standards for cars, do have significant bipartisan support, and Washington watchers suggest a compromise incorporating these areas of more widespread agreement is likely. “The House will work with the Senate on a bipartisan basis to pass a strong energy bill and send it to the President’s desk for his signature,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a driving force behind the bill.
Both the House and Senate passed energy bills earlier in the year, but significant differences between the two stalled progress. Neither of those earlier bills included extensions of the tax credits established for energy efficient home improvements in the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
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