Climate Change
Related Media
May 04, 2020
The coronavirus crisis is not only battering the oil and gas industry. It’s drying up capital and disrupting supply chains for businesses trying to move the country toward cleaner sources of energy. Already, Democrats are signaling they will make a push again in the next round of stimulus spending. “Relief and recovery legislation will shape our society for years to come,” said Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-Va.), vice chair of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, a caucus that supports renewable energy resources. “We must use these bills to build in a climate-smart way.”
Mar 19, 2020
Renewable energy industries and some Democrats have begun efforts to ensure the economic response to the coronavirus helps a sector that's suddenly facing strong headwinds. Industry officials are taking pains to emphasize that COVID-19 is a public health crisis and back providing fast support to families and small businesses. But they also say broader legislation to address economic fallout should consider how the crisis is hitting the sector. The longstanding ad-hoc House group called the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition has taken up the mantle of pushing for the tax provisions in the rescue package.
Mar 19, 2020
The novel coronavirus pandemic and its resulting economic disruptions could delay U.S. wind and solar projects from being started or completed by the end of 2020, threatening their access to federal tax credits that are critical to their financing. Clean-energy industry groups and their allies in Congress want to stop that from happening, and they see the massive coronavirus stimulus package now being crafted in Congress as a way to do it. On Tuesday, the three Democrats who co-chair the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition — Gerry Connolly of Virginia, Paul Tonko of New York and Doris Matsui of California — called for including in the stimulus package seven wind, solar, electric vehicle, energy storage and energy efficiency bills, a subset of measures included in a House proposal from last year, dubbed the GREEN Act. They asked for the measures to be added to the $1 trillion economic stimulus plan unveiled by the Trump administration on Wednesday, which includes $500 billion in cash payments to individual Americans, $300 billion for small businesses, $50 billion for airlines and $150 billion for other affected sectors.
Mar 18, 2020
Democratic House lawmakers backing including clean energy tax credits in the package include Representatives Gerry Connolly of Virginia, Paul Tonko of New York and Doris Matsui of California, who are the co-chairs of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition. The renewable energy industry is arguing that it is also feeling the economic pain of forced business closings, layoffs and the slowdown in the supply chain. “Early results from a survey of our companies confirm some of our worst fears,” said Abigail Ross Hopper the president of the Solar Energy Industries Association
Mar 17, 2020
As lawmakers continue to hammer out legislation to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, House Democrats are looking to insert renewable energy tax credit provisions into a larger stimulus package aimed at stabilizing the economy. The House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition co-chairs said in a joint statement to Morning Consult that they have an eye toward addressing “both the economic slowdown we are facing as a result of COVID-19 and the ongoing climate crisis” with these measures. As a consequence of the pandemic, the U.S. renewables industry is facing widespread supply chain issues because the materials needed for wind and solar infrastructure come largely from China. And these concerns are compounded by the fact that two existing tax credits are approaching their ends...