[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 32 (Thursday, February 27, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2922-S2924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. REID (for himself, Mr. Smith Ms. Snowe, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. 
        Harkin, Mr. Lieberman, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Wyden, 
        and Mr. Coleman):
  S. 464. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify 
and expand the credit for electricity produced from renewable resources 
and waste products, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Finance.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, faced with uncertainties in electricity 
energy markets, turmoil in the Mideast, the need to cut back on the 
fossil fuel emissions linked to global warming, air pollution that 
contributes to high rates of asthma and fills even our national parks 
with smog, the United States must diversify its energy supply by 
promoting the growth of renewable energy.
  Since 1999, Las Vegas electricity rates have increased by 60 percent. 
In the same period, natural gas prices across Nevada have doubled. We 
need to change the energy equation. We need to diversify the Nation's 
energy supply to reduce volatility and ensure a stable supply of 
electricity. We must harness the brilliance of the sun, the strength of 
the wind, and the heat of the Earth to provide clean, renewable energy 
for our nation.
  I rise today to introduce a bill with Senators Smith, Snowe, 
Cantwell, Harkin, Liberman, Feinstein, Jeffords, and Wyden expands the 
existing Section 45 production tax credit for renewable energy 
resources to cover all renewable energy resources. Our legislation 
accomplishes this by adding geothermal, incremental geothermal, solar, 
open-loop biomass, incremental hydropower, landfill gas, and animal 
waste to the list of renewable energy resources that would quality for 
a production tax credit.
  Our legislation also makes the production tax credit permanent to 
signal America's long-term commitment to renewable energy resources. 
The existing production tax credit that covers wind energy, poultry 
waste, and closed-look biomass will expire at the end of 2003! Since it 
inception in 1992, the production tax credit has expired and been 
renewed twice; in 1999 and 2001. Development of wind energy has closely 
mirrored these renewal cycles. Clearly, the private investment 
necessary to develop renewable energy resources requires the business 
certainly afforded a long-term extension of the production tax credit.
  Our bill allows for co-production credits to encourage blending of 
renewable energy with traditional fuels and provides a credit for 
renewable facilities on native American and native Alaskan lands. In 
northern Nevada, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe is working with Advanced 
Thermal Systems to develop geothermal resources on Indian lands that 
will spur economic development by creating business opportunities and 
jobs for tribal members.

  This legislation also provides production incentives to not-for-
profit public power utilities and rural electric cooperatives, which 
serve 25 percent of the Nation's power customers, by allowing them to 
transfer of their credits to taxable entities.
  The good news is that the production tax credit for renewable energy 
resources really works to promote the growth of renewable energy. In 
1990, the cost of wind energy was 22.5 cents per kilowatt hour and, 
today, with new technology and the help of a modest

[[Page S2924]]

production tax credit, wind is a competitive energy source at 3 to 4 
cents per kilowatt hour. In the last 5 years, wind energy has 
experience a 30 percent growth rate. This year, Nevada utilities have 
signed contracts for more then 130 MW of wind energy.
  The production tax credit provides 1.8 cents for every kilowatt-hour 
of electricity produced. Similar to wind energy, this credit will allow 
geothermal energy, incremental hydropower, and landfill gas to 
immediately compete with fossil fuels, while biomass will follow 
closely behind. The Department of Energy estimates that we would 
increase our geothermal energy production almost ten fold, supplying 
ten percent of the energy needs of the West. As fantastic as it sounds, 
enough sunlight falls on a 100 mile by 100 miles of southern Nevada 
that--if covered with solar panels--could power the entire Nation.
  Let's never lose sight of the fact that renewable energy resources 
are domestic sources of energy, and using them instead of foreign 
sources contributes to our energy security. Renewables provide fuel 
diversify and price stability. After all, the fuel--the wind, the sun, 
heat from the core of the earth--costs nothing. And they provide jobs, 
especially in rural areas that have been largely left out of American 
recent economic growth.
  The production tax credit for renewable energy resources is a 
powerful, fast acting stimulus to the economy. According to the Western 
Government Association, the Department of Energy's Initiative to deploy 
1,000 MWs of concentrated solar power in the Southwestern area of the 
United States by the year 2006 would create approximately 10,0000 jobs 
and estimated expenditures of more than 3.7 billion over 14 
years. Nevada has already developed 200 Megawatts of geothermal power, 
with a longer-term potential of more than 2,500 Megawatts. This 
development will provide billions of private investment and create 
thousands of jobs. Our production tax credit means immediate economic 
development and jobs!

  In the U.S. today, we get less than 3 percent of our electricity from 
renewable energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. But 
the potential for much greater supply is here. For example, Nevada is 
considered the Saudi Arabia of geothermal. My state could use 
geothermal energy to meet one-third of its electricity needs, but today 
this source of energy only supplies 2.3 percent. I'm proud to say that 
Nevada has adopted one of the most aggressive Renewable Portfolio 
Standard in the Nation, requiring that 5 percent of the State's 
electricity needs be met by renewable energy resources in 2003, which 
then grows to 15 percent by 2013.
  After pouring billions of dollars into oil and gas, we need to invest 
in a clean energy future. Fossil fuel plants pump over 11 million tons 
of pollutants into our air each year. Federal energy policy must 
promote reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. By including landfill 
gas in this legislation, we systematically reduce the largest single 
human source of methane emissions in the United States, effectively 
eliminating the greenhouse gas equivalent of 223 million tons of carbon 
dioxide.
  An article in The Journal of the American Medical Association 
revealed an alarming link between soot particles from power plants and 
motor vehicles and lung cancer and heart disease. The adverse health 
effects of power plant and vehicle emissions cost Americans billions of 
dollars in medical care, and our cost in human suffering is 
immeasurable. Simply put, the human cost of dirty air is staggering. If 
we factor in environmental and health effects, the real cost of energy 
becomes apparent, and renewable energy become the fuel of choice.
  America's abundant and untapped renewable resources can fuel our 
journey into a more prosperous and safer tomorrow without compromising 
air and water quality.
  Renewable energy is the cornerstone of a successful, forward looking, 
and secure energy policy for the 21st Century.
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