Don't Drop Incentives for Renewable Energy from Conference Energy Bill

by Ronald Cloud [courtesy of Blog for America]

Macon, GA 31210

November 14, 2007

The Honorable Tim Ryan
The Honorable Debbie Wasserman Schultz
The Honorable Christopher Murphy
United States House of Representatives

Regards: Energy Bill Surrender

Dear Representatives Ryan, Wasserman Schultz, and Murphy:

It was a great pleasure to view the exchanges among the three of you on the House floor
during C-SPAN coverage one evening last June.  A discerning listener might detect partisanship and scripting in your remarks.  That's fine with me.  Having tuned in to the opposing partisans' radio jockeys during their 24-hour domination of talk radio over the public's airwaves, I found myself wishing that same audience and medium would devote equal time to the intellectually stimulating, well reasoned, arguments that each of you made in turn. 

The central theme that I followed in your arguments was the case that what Congress does matters. 
It makes a difference in:
how well the majority of our citizens can make a living,
whether, or not, we are able to engage in "the pursuit of happiness" that is our birthright,
and whether, or not, our children and grandchildren will live better or worse than those of us responsible for today's decisions.  

I concur with many of your assessments that what has passed for public policy for many years has not served the public and has harmed many citizens.   Trade and business policies that promote offshore manufacturing in China at the expense of American jobs, for example.  Exploding cost increases in the health care sector at the same time that more citizens are uninsured and hospitals are closing is another disconnect between policy and the general welfare.

And then, there is the question of energy policy.   

It has come to my attention that this year's energy bill is expected to come out of conference
without an extension of the investment tax credit (ITC) for citizens and business owners who purchase solar and wind energy systems as well as those who invest in energy efficiency.  It has been reported that Senate Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi decided to drop the renewable energy standard and the tax title out of the energy bill. Without the tax title there can be no extension of the ITC for solar and no extension of the production tax credit for wind energy.

If true, this means that our Congressional leadership is going to vote on an energy bill with without any incentives for renewable energy.  It will be another in a decades long line of self-defeating American energy policy decisions to eliminate the pro-solar provision from the Energy Act of 2005.  I am bewildered and demoralized that the Democratic leadership is about to allow an energy bill to pass that is  NOT as pro-renewable as EPACT 2005 was. 

I ask each of you to say it isn't so and hold out for an energy bill that will promote energy conservation, climate protection, and American production of renewable energy from domestic resources.  This week it was reported that OPEC is making its decision on ramping up crude oil production contingent on the abandonment of renewable energy initiatives in the US.  It is outrageous for the Congress, at this time, to pass an energy bill stripped of a federal renewable fuel portfolio standard, without an extension of the renewable energy ITC, and without a clear mandate for dramatically increased automobile efficiency standards.

Without a strong and consequential commitment for domestic renewable energy, this bill will be yet another waving white flag in the energy challenge once presented as the "Moral Equivalent of War."
Again, I ask each of you to reject this alarming energy policy mistake.

Thank you for your consideration and for your public service.

Sincerely,

Ronald Cloud
publius@bellsouth.net
      
Cc. The Honorable Jim Marshall
Cc. The Honorable Saxby Chambliss
Cc. The Honorable Johnny Isakson
Cc. The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Cc. The Honorable Harry Reid