Late last night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6899, a bill that contains extensions for the Production and Investment Tax Credits (PTC and ITC) for renewable energy, by a vote of 236-189.
H.R. 6899 which reportedly will not receive any consideration in the U.S. Senate, contains a one-year extension of the production tax credit for wind energy, a three-year extension of the production tax credit for biomass, geothermal, hydropower, landfill gas and waste-to-energy systems. It also contains an eight-year extension of the commercial ITC for solar energy and fuel cells and raises the cap for the residential energy-efficient property credit from US $2,000 to US $4,000.
According to sources close to the legislative process, the Senate has reached consensus on a different bill that also includes extensions to the PTC and ITC and could vote to pass the Senate version of the bill later this week. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) made the announcement yesterday.
The agreement includes ITC and PTC extensions with a total value of approximately US $17 billion, paid for in part by freezing the tax deduction for the domestic manufacturing activities of American oil and gas companies and tightening the rules by which oil and gas companies pay taxes on income earned overseas and freeing general fund monies with increased payments into the oil spill liability trust fund as new drilling is considered. Other pay-fors include a one-year extension of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act surtax at the current level and increasing reporting requirements for brokers on sales of stock.
This agreement, which has been under development for the last week includes an 8-year extension of the commercial ITC, a 2-year extension of the residential ITC, removal of the cap for the residential energy-efficient property credit, a one-year extension of the wind energy PTC and a three-year extension of PTCs for all other qualifying facilities.