Trump Administration Tries to Disrupt Solar and Wind Power Tax Credits
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a stunning disregard of the deal reached in Congress this summer, the Internal Revenue Service issued guidance today that would severely restrict the ability of solar and wind projects to qualify for tax credits. The Republicans’ tax bill this year phased out incentives for solar, wind, and other technologies, which will curtail new energy and raise consumers’ costs. But Congress specifically preserved tax incentives for those renewable energy projects that “begin construction” within the next year.
This new guidance creates uncertainty for those projects, making it more difficult for companies to get financing and move forward.
The following is a comment from Kit Kennedy, managing director for power at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“Congress provided a narrow but clear path for businesses bringing investments and jobs to communities around the country with new solar and wind projects, but this administration is trying to erect new roadblocks.
“Ending these tax credits for wind and solar is going to drive up customers’ bills and hurt investment. But ending those credits prematurely and haphazardly would deliver a brutal shock to homeowners and investors. This is bad for consumers and bad for business.
“Given rising power demand and electricity prices, we need this energy now more than ever. But the Trump administration appears hell-bent on halting the projects that can deliver new, cheap power most quickly. For millions of Americans seeing their electricity bills spike, this is a slap in the face.
“The administration must follow the law as it is written, not as a few stray lawmakers wish it had been written. Our lawyers are hard at work examining what Treasury did today. Stay tuned.”
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).