Lawmakers Seek to add $235B in Clean Energy
Biden’s reconciliation package may allocate billions in clean energy.
According to Energy News Network, Congress has a long-standing aversion to climate policy. Cap and trade saw a spectacular death in 2010. A plan to pay utilities for selling more clean electricity was axed this month. And proposals to tax carbon dioxide emissions never had a chance. But there is one major exception to lawmakers’ reluctance to tackle greenhouse gases: clean energy subsidies.
Congress passed the first production tax credit for wind in 1992. The PTC has been extended 13 times since then. Solar energy and carbon capture have long-standing incentives as well. Now, lawmakers appear poised to double down. The reconciliation package contains roughly $235 billion in incentives for everything from wind and solar to emerging technologies like green hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuels. By contrast, the economic stimulus package passed in 2009 offered $90 billion in clean energy spending.