NDN President Simon Rosenberg and Green Project Director Michael Moynihan today urged the U.S. Congress to extend the package of renewable energy tax credits. The vote on the package could come up as early as tomorrow.
Simon and Michael are in good company. The legislation is supported by dozens of organizations, ranging from Habitat for Humanity International (GA) to The Sierra Club Foundation (CA) to the United Nations Foundation. For a complete list of supporters, click here. Several other organizations also weighed in with letters of support, including Discovery Communications, the National Governors Association and the National Motorsports Coalition. To read all the letters of support, please click here.
To read about the bill, introduced by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (MT), Chairman of the U.S. Finance Committee, in much greater detail, click here.
(By the way, Chairman Baucus delivered a terrific speech to the NDN community last October on U.S. trade issues. Check out that event here).
Below is the text of the news release from Simon and Michael:
NDN President Simon Rosenberg and NDN Green Project Director Michael Moynihan today called on leaders in both parties to extend the package of renewable energy tax credits that will come up for a vote as early as tomorrow in the U.S. Senate. The package, currently part of the Jobs, Energy, Families and Disaster Relief Act of 2008 (S. 3335), has enormous potential to quickly stimulate the economy, create jobs, reduce American dependence on foreign sources of energy and move toward a low-carbon future.
"We call upon the leaders of both parties -- including Senators Obama and McCain -- to work together to pass the package of renewable energy tax credits this year, starting with the vote this week in the Senate," Rosenberg said. "Accelerating the development of renewable energy is in the national interest of the United States; it will help us tackle the threat of climate change; lessen our dependence on expensive and dirty energy sources; and begin to create the new clean energy jobs so vital to the economy of 21st century America."
Moynihan specifically called for the eight-year extension of the Solar Investment Tax Credit, currently included in S. 3335, which he called “crucial for ensuring a stable, predictable, and favorable investment climate so that the United States can become a major leader in solar energy.” He added that this lack of stability for all renewable energy sources currently is costing American jobs, and a failure to extend the tax credits would cause thousands more jobs to be lost, as well as boost demand for fossil fuel-based energy sources, further increasing energy prices and impacting everyday Americans.
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