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Energy on stage in 2-week sprint to recess
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is adding the final touches and working through remaining negotiations on comprehensive energy legislation and could release the highly anticipated document as soon as today. Republican Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has said she plans to begin marking up the bill this week and report the language out of committee before Congress adjourns for the August recess. That schedule would ensure the bill is ready for floor action as soon as leadership has floor time available, said Robert Dillon, a spokesman for the senator. [ read more … ]
Senate Finance to launch annual extenders ritual
The Senate Finance Committee tomorrow will mark up a broad tax package that includes a number of expired energy incentives, as senators look to clear the decks on the annual extenders battle. As expected, the chairman’s mark released Friday contains two-year extensions of the 52 on-again, off-again tax breaks that spark the extenders ritual, including the particularly contentious renewable production tax credit. In addition, the bill would extend the option for renewable projects to choose between the PTC and the 30 percent investment tax credit through 2016, which is estimated to cost $10.4 billion over 10 years. [ read more … ]
Grassley Secures Inclusion of Wind Energy, Biodiesel, Cellulosic Ethanol, Education Provisions in Committee Tax Extenders Package
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa secured the inclusion of tax incentives for wind energy, biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol in the bipartisan tax extenders bill the Finance Committee will consider on Tuesday. The bill also contains long-time Grassley-sponsored provisions on tax deductions for higher education tuition and school supplies bought by teachers. The inclusion of the wind energy provision was a particular victory for Grassley, as allies of non-renewable energy sources are highly critical of wind energy and work against it. [ read more … ]
Kate Brown’s Verve Sets Her Apart as Oregon’s New Governor
Asserting independence from Portland carries its own risks. During tough negotiations over a package for statewide road and bridge work near the end of the legislative session last month, Ms. Brown said she would be amenable to repealing a measure she signed just three months earlier: a clean fuels carbon-reduction law.The law, which the oil industry and some Republicans abhor, is aimed at cutting climate-change gases by requiring a gradual reduction of carbon in fuels. Ms. Brown said that if there was another way to achieve the same end, a political compromise could be worth it. [ read more … ]
Illinois hearings slated for planned line that will deliver wind energy from Kan.
The Illinois Commerce Commission will hold three public forums on Clean Line Energy’s proposed Grain Belt Express high-voltage transmission line later this month. The hearings are set in communities in the western, central and eastern portions of the state. The purpose is to hear from residents who would be directly affected by the proposed transmission line that will deliver wind energy from Kansas to several states in the east. As proposed, the line would run through Pike, Scott, Greene, Macoupin, Montgomery, Christian, Shelby, Cumberland and Clark counties in the state of Illinois.
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Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.