Senator Attacks Solar Energy Industry
In a blistering attack, Nevada’s Republican senator John Ensign has launched an offensive against solar energy lobbyists, ahead of a crucial vote on renewable energy tax credits.
Breaking ranks with the the state’s increasingly important solar industry, Ensign said that efforts by the Solar Energy Industry Association to force his hand on tax breaks had in fact had the opposite effect of “personally alienating” him and other senators.
In a scathing letter, later released to the press, Ensign accused the lobby group of squandering goodwill by accusing him of favouring “billionaire hedge fund managers” over job creation in Nevada. Indicating the depth of his feelings on the issue, he went on to say “It is rare to have such overwhelming bipartisan support in today’s political climate but the solar industry had it and your association’s leadership squandered it.”
Nevada solar executives had privately become increasingly unhappy with the Senator’s record of voting against bills containing the tax credits. Ensign said that he opposed the bills because the funds for tax breaks would have been raised by increasing the burden on the oil and gas industry. Earlier this spring, he co-sponsored an alternative approach, calling for tax credits without the corresponding offsets. It made it through the Senate by a vote of 88-8, but has become bogged down in the House.
Last Tuesday, the senate voted to block progress on the Consumer First Energy Act and the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act. However, with a new vote expected this week, the rift is likely to dismay observers hopeful of progress on the hotly disputed tax credits bill. A block would be particularly damaging to the renewables industry, which wants to make investment decisions against a background of long-term stability in renewable energy policy.
Other posts on the U.S. Senate and Renewable Energy Policy:
“Senate to Vote on Renewables as Early as Today”
“Senate Passes Renewable Energy Tax Credits. Shouldn’t I Be More Excited?”
“Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008 Lacks Support”
I lived in Nevada when John Ensign was first elected to the House… this doesn’t surprise me in the least. I doubt there’s any entrenched interest that John Ensign doesn’t just love… how can anyone argue about “increasing the burden on the oil and gas industries” with a straight face?
I was in Nevada recently and I was struck by the number of solar-powered billboards I saw. What, I wondered, was the impetus for this? Is it part of a PR campaign from the major billboard companies? Is there some sort of state-level incentive (like an investment tax credit)?
Granted, as compared to the energy being used to spew light from the top of the Luxor, the energy used by billboards is a pittance, but still noteworthy.
Good find, Andrew.
When you see guys like John Ensign running this country it makes you wonder why the hell do we go to high school and college.
All these courses in ethics, morals, civic duty, patriotism, seem like a joke and a waste of time.
If a kid realizes the truth that money and greed is the ultimate truth when he is eleven..he can sure skip college and still be a success when he grows up.
That is great, let the oil companies keep their subsidies while they make their many billions per year and don’t let the solar industry have any! It is clear who is funding his campaign.
His view of the future is all about looking backwards at the fossil fuel industry and filling his pockets with their money.
I like tax policies that provide incentives for responsible practices and can be utilitzed by the general public. I like the fact that the renewable energy tax credits can potentially be claimed by any American taxpayer. That is very fair. By contrast, only huge oil companies can take advantage of the huge subsidies we give them. Given the record profits they’ve been enjoying and the record costs the rest of us have been paying, their tax credits are obviously not trickling down to the rest of us. How is it that entities that do not vote can have more influence on our leaders and get tax breaks rather than the voting and tax paying human public?
You Nevada voters REALLY need to vote this guy out of office!!!
Don’t you think that if we reduced the tax credits for oil, that the oil companies would just raise the price of gas to offset the loss? Do you honestly thing that any company would be ok with making less money? What planet are you living on? I don’t see why his original plan to give the tax breaks without the oil offsets isn’t being looked at closer.
maybe Yuca (Sp?) Mountain has a future after all
I think tax credits are the wrong solution. That results in long, costly calculations required by the state (CA) to calculate actual “performance” of each install. Why not replicate Germany’s solution: require the electric companies to buy the power from home/business owners @ 7 times the going rate. This only adds $3.00 to each German consumer (a reasonable number that most people would support), provide long term investment stability, and get the government out of the picture. What do you think?
I agree that there should be no tax credits for them. But at the same time, there should be none for oil either. Solar will be cost effective if it doesn’t have to compete with subsidized oil.