The Trump administration’s new tax credit guidance, which alters how renewable energy projects qualify for federal tax credits, represents a “senseless attack on clean energy“, the Environmental Defense Fund has said.
Vickie Patton, general counsel, Environmental Defense Fund, was commenting following the US Treasury Department’s issuing of new guidance that limits access to federal clean energy tax credits, requiring developers to have commenced significant physical construction activities on renewable energy projects before being able to access credits.
‘Destructive effort’
As Patton explained, the new guidance “places significant new obstacles on solar and wind projects that represent 95% of new generation being added to the grid today, and that are helping meet America’s growing energy needs while making electricity more affordable and reliable, creating jobs, reducing pollution and improving public health.
“This is a destructive effort to turn back the clock on clean energy progress and undermine the vital support for clean energy that Congress has clearly enacted into law.”
Adding that the new guidance will lead to increased electricity costs, make the energy grid less reliable and harm the US economy, Patton said that the Environmental Defense Fund will “vigorously oppose this action to make daily life for millions of people less safe and less affordable”.
‘Foreign controlled energy sources’
In an executive order signed in July, the Trump administration said that it was ‘ending market distorting subsidies for unreliable, foreign controlled energy sources’, claiming that the issuing of green subsidies was a threat to national security, as it made the ‘United States dependent on supply chains controlled by foreign adversaries’.
‘Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts to unreliable energy sources is vital to energy dominance, national security, economic growth, and the fiscal health of the Nation,’ the executive order read. Read more here and here.
