Key Vote: NO on Omnibus Spending Bill

As Congress considers a massive $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, coupled with a $650 billion tax extenders package, the American Energy Alliance urges all members to vote against any legislation that extends the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC), the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), and fails to prohibit funds from being repurposed to the Green Climate Fund. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the PTC and ITC extensions alone will cost taxpayers nearly $24 billion. While we support lifting the decades-old ban on oil exports, AEA will score AGAINST the omnibus spending bill as long as it includes extensions of the PTC, the ITC, and fails to prohibit funds from being repurposed to the Green Climate Fund.

The wind PTC is a wasteful subsidy that lines the pockets of multinational wind corporations at the expense of American taxpayers. While the PTC was originally intended to help wind be cost-competitive, today the wind industry claims it is already cost competitive. Having fulfilled its original purpose, the PTC only serves to distort electricity markets and harm taxpayers—all to benefit wind lobbyists and the wind industry. Worse, Congress is subsidizing an expensive source of electricity that cannot be relied upon to keep the lights on.

The same can be said for the solar ITC. The ITC costs billions of dollars in foregone revenue to prop up an inefficient, unreliable, and expensive energy source. This credit should not be renewed. Even Sunnova, one of the largest solar companies, has advocated against the ITC, stating that it actually does more harm than good for the solar industry.

The omnibus negotiations settled on trading a 5-year extension of both the PTC and ITC for lifting the ban on oil exports. AEA supports lifting the ban, as it would promote free trade and strengthen the American economy. However, lifting the ban should not be traded for the PTC or the ITC. Lifting the oil export ban is a good enough policy that it should be agreed to on its own merits. We are confident that this policy goal can be reached in the coming year. Congress should not trade one good policy for multiple terrible ones.

In addition to the PTC and ITC extensions, this package fails to expressly prohibit the Obama administration from diverting money to the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund. This slush fund is integral to the president’s efforts to bankroll an international climate deal, which many in Congress have vowed to block.

While this deal is full of bad provisions, it’s worth noting that there are a handful of good and important ones. Along with lifting the ban on oil exports, there is a provision in the extenders package to repeal the gift tax for contributions to 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), and 501(c)(6) organizations. In the past, the IRS has abused their power and selectively assessed a gift tax on individuals and organizations. This provision would be the most meaningful step that Congress has taken to protect citizens from IRS abuse since the targeting scandal.

AEA will key vote against the current omnibus package that extends the PTC, the ITC, and fails to prohibit funds from being repurposed to the Green Climate Fund. We strongly urge all Representatives and Senators to vote NO. Should the Senate link tax extenders to the omnibus, we will score against that package as well.

Hillary Clinton’s Reverse Robin Hood Tax Code

Today, multimillionaire presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton held a “grassroots event” with billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

The subject was tax reform, one Buffett knows well. The Berkshire Hathaway CEO owns a sprawling enterprise of businesses employing an army of lobbyists and accountants to exploit opportunities to make money at taxpayer expense.

Buffett does not hide this strategy. In fact, he brags about his ability to game the system. In a speech last year, Buffett mentioned how he (ab)uses the tax code to make money on unprofitable wind turbines:

“I will do anything that is basically covered by the law to reduce Berkshire’s tax rate. For example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.”

Buffett is referring to the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC). The wind PTC is a massive wealth transfer from ordinary taxpayers to rich investors like Buffett and large companies like Berkshire Hathaway and General Electric.

This lucrative subsidy pays the wind industry to generate electricity whether it is wanted or needed. And it’s often unwanted, since wind energy is expensive and unreliable. It raises energy prices on American families and makes our power grid less dependable.

The wind PTC is also crucial for President Obama’s climate agenda. His central domestic climate policy, the “Clean Power Plan,” banks on rapidly expanding wind energy production over the coming decades. But as Buffett explained, wind energy doesn’t “make sense” without subsidies because it is uneconomic.

Worse still, this subsidy has been hanging around for more than two decades. Congress first passed it in 1992 as a “temporary” handout to an infant industry. Now the wind industry claims it’s “mature,” yet the PTC remains.

The infant wind industry has grown into a 23-year old unemployed college grad who doesn’t want to leave the “safe space” of his parents’ house. Instead of leaving the nest to face the real world, wind lobbyists guilt Congress into letting the free-ride continue.

The wind PTC is routinely included in a package of expired tax provisions known as tax extenders. For years, the PTC has skated by on the political popularity of the total extenders package despite controversy over individual provisions. And just recently, Congressional leaders unveiled an omnibus spending bill that would extend the PTC for five years—costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

When people talk about “tax reform” they generally mean cutting the number of tax write offs, including the PTC, while reducing tax rates across the board. In theory, a simpler tax code achieved through tax reform would negate the need for annual extenders or attaching tax subsidies to a massive spending bill.

But political expediency tends to beat good policy, as it did once again with the omnibus bill.

This brings us to the Clinton – Buffett “tax reform” event. People like Buffett profit off a complicated tax code. Big companies hire accountants to search for tax carve outs, which their lobbyists then fight to keep and expand. Most people, including the “grassroots” audience attending Clinton’s event, can’t possibly keep up.

As a result, the current tax code benefits the rich and leaves everyone else behind. It rewards rich guys like Buffett who invest in wind turbines for the sole purpose of collecting subsidies—even though those subsidies raise energy prices on poor and middle class families.

The current tax code also favors the political class. It allows politicians to reward the special interests that fund their campaigns with special tax treatment, paid for by American families. Hillary Clinton, for example, has pledged to power every home with wind and solar by 2030, a 700 percent increase in installed solar capacity. To reach that goal, she’s calling for expanded tax subsidies like the PTC, among a slew of other subsidies and mandates.

It makes sense, then, why Clinton and Buffett are joining forces on tax policy. As much as Clinton claims to support “hardworking families,” her interests are more aligned with a robber baron and his wind farms.

Congress Fails the American People with Spending Bill

WASHINGTON – American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle issued the following statement on the omnibus spending bill:

“This lopsided deal is an enormous giveaway to big business and special interests. Eliminating the ban on oil exports is an important policy that will benefit the economy in the long run, but Republican leadership paid too high a price, capitulating on nearly every demand from the Left. Extending corporate handouts to the wind and solar industry will cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and hike electricity prices on middle class Americans, all while putting a down payment on Obama’s climate agenda.

“Despite promises to deny money for the green climate slush fund, Republican leaders have presented a spending bill that fails to prohibit the president from diverting hundreds of millions of dollars to the fund. Whether by negligence or design, this deal strengthens Obama’s climate agenda at the expense of poor and middle class families. Republicans didn’t hand Obama the keys to the bank vault, but they left them under the mat.

“Speaker Ryan promised to change the way the House does business, but this bill is just more of the same backroom deals, out-of-control spending, and special interest handouts we’ve come to expect from Washington. This deal is a terrible beginning for Speaker Ryan and is a tacit admission that comprehensive tax reform is dead, deader, deadest.”

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Extenders Deal an Insult to the American People

WASHINGTON – American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle issued the following statement on the potential tax extenders deal:

“This tax extenders deal is another example of the worst of Washington politics. It’s no wonder Congress’ approval rating is at an all time low. Lifting the oil export ban in exchange for the wind PTC, the solar ITC, and potentially allowing the administration to reprogram money for the UN’s green energy slush fund would be one step forward and several steps backward for American families.

“The Republicans are right to fight for lifting the oil export ban, as it would reduce gasoline prices for families and enhance U.S. energy security. But not at any price. Extending the wind PTC sends billions of tax dollars to large corporations like GE while advancing the Obama administration’s climate agenda and fulfilling the president’s promise to make electricity prices skyrocket.

“The fact that Republicans would even consider a deal that funds the Green Climate Fund is breathtakingly foolish. Just this week, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized President Obama over the Paris agreement stating that the president ‘is making promises he can’t keep’ and ‘writing checks he can’t cash.’

“This reported deal is an insult to the American people, especially the poor and middle class who can least afford higher energy prices. The American Energy Alliance will score against any deal that extends the PTC or supports in any way the president’s climate slush fund.”

Click here to read a blog post from AEA President Tom Pyle on the potential extenders deal.
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On Tax Extenders, Republican Promises Ring Hollow

When Paul Ryan accepted the gavel as Speaker of the House, he stated:

“Neither the members nor the people are satisfied with how things are going. We need to make some changes, starting with how the House does business.”

Yet it didn’t take long for those words to ring hollow, as the Republicans are again in the midst of a backroom deal that will benefit those with the least amount of power in Washington.

Republican leadership is reportedly on the verge of giving Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid a deal to revive and extend the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC), among other expired tax provisions, for five years in exchange for lifting the 1970s-era ban on most crude-oil exports.

This is a terrible deal for the American people. Republicans are right to fight for oil exports, but would be foolish to accept a deal that delivers one good policy—lifting the oil export ban—in exchange for a number of bad ones, including the PTC; and possibly, the President’s $3 billion Green Climate Fund.

The oil-export ban is a relic of a bygone era that should end. Numerous studies show that allowing oil exports would lower gasoline prices for families, boost domestic oil production, and enhance U.S. energy security.

Meanwhile, the wind PTC is corporate welfare for the wind industry and a crown jewel for Reid and Obama. In fact, just this morning Sen. Reid issued an ultimatum to Republicans: “take yes for an answer” on the PTC or lose oil exports.

Republican leadership and the oil industry, spearheaded by API, seem to have blinders on when it comes to lifting the oil export ban. If their goal is to ensure that Americans have access to reliable and affordable energy, then this deal would be a major failure.

The benefits of lifting the oil export ban are not worth the price tag. Proponents of lifting the export ban should have condemned this horse-trading from the beginning. Instead, the Republicans are now faced with a laundry list of demands from the Obama administration and the Democrats that would increase the size of government.

Unfortunately, Republicans appear ready to give Democrats just about anything they want. For example, Sens. Carper and Markey are trying to add a tax credit for northeastern refiners, which the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers rejected as “a proposal that pits one segment of the refining industry against another.” You heard that right—Senator Ed Markey is shilling for northeastern oil refiners. There are even talks of Congress authorizing $3 billion for Obama’s “Green Climate Fund,” the slush fund of the Paris climate summit that Republicans previously vowed to block.

Republicans should reject these strong-arm tactics and remember the promises they made to their constituents to fight the Democrats’ and the Obama administration’s anti-energy agenda. The wind PTC is a massive wealth transfer from taxpayers to large corporations like General Electric, who lobbied hard for a PTC extension. It also advances the Obama administration’s carbon regulation, which, as the president promised, will make electricity prices skyrocket. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed he would, “keep doing everything I can to fight them [the administration]” over this regulation.

Oil exports would reduce gasoline prices for families and increase U.S. energy security, while the wind PTC raises energy prices and makes our power grid less dependable. Lifting the ban is sensible policy that deserves to pass on its own merits, instead of being traded in a backroom deal with Democrat leadership—especially not for the wind PTC.

Swapping oil exports for tax extenders and giving in to other demands from the green lobby would be one step forward and several steps backward. Republicans should not let their support for oil exports blind them to the harm of corporate wind welfare.

Solar CEO Calls for Phaseout of Subsidies

The upcoming expiration of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is leading to a record number of solar panel installations as companies rush to exploit the subsidy. The ITC, along with a favorable depreciable tax basis, allows companies to write off as much as 60 percent of the property’s value at taxpayers’ expense. However, not all solar companies wish to take advantage of subsidies, and some are now arguing that the expiration of the ITC may ultimately benefit the industry.

In a letter to Congress last month, Sunnova CEO John Berger wrote that “[w]e do not believe an extension of this credit is necessary for the continued health of the solar industry. In fact, quite the opposite is true. If the credit is allowed to step down as planned, the industry will remain more robust in both the long- and short-term.”

By the Department of Energy’s own admission, the cost of distributed solar is down nearly 50 percent since 2008—nearly double the benefit of the ITC.

falling costs for clean energy tech

The solar industry has been subsidized by the ITC for nearly four decades, and the 30 percent tax deduction is scheduled to drop to a 10 percent rate in January 2017. “Yet,” Berger explains, “there has been an organized effort by many in the solar industry to convince legislators that the need for a five-year, or even permanent, extension of the ITC is necessary to the continued functioning of the industry.”

Elon Musk’s SolarCity is one such company that has benefitted immensely at taxpayer expense. The company has received $497.5 million in federal grants, according to an investigation by The Los Angeles Times, in addition to $750 million in state tax breaks to build a factory in New York. In all, SolarCity has received $2.5 billion in government subsidies. Despite this, the company is the swamped in debt—hitting $2.3 billion in 3Q 2015, or nearly $1 billion higher than December 2014.

Solar companies have been accused of abusing federal grant and loan programs, and have been the subject of numerous lawsuits and probes in recent years. Several companies, including SolarCity, are currently being investigated by the Department of Justice for potentially defrauding taxpayers by misrepresenting the value of their solar properties in order to receive more money from the government’s grant program.

These aggressive sales tactics are the result of solar companies fighting to take advantage of the billions made available by the government’s ITC and other programs. The industry has received nearly $18 billion to subsidize otherwise unprofitable solar properties since 2009. As Sunnova’s CEO said, “[t]he industry made a deal with Congress in 2008 that it needed the ITC’s support until 2016 and then it would be able to operate and, indeed, flourish without it.” Congress should listen to Sunnova’s CEO and allow the tax credit to expire.

Paris Climate Deal is Another Paper Tiger

WASHINGTON — American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle issued the following statement on the Paris climate deal:

“Just like each one before it, this climate agreement is unenforceable, underfunded, and non-binding. There is nothing historic about this deal. The Obama administration clearly doesn’t have the support of Congress or the American people—making the agreement nothing more than a paper tiger.

“Unfortunately, this won’t stop the president from pursuing a domestic climate agenda that will raise energy prices on American families, but will have no impact on the climate. As the sun sets on his presidency, Obama’s obsession with energy rationing will cement his legacy, not as the climate change president, but as the most out of touch president in modern history. Now that this climate confab is over, leaders at the both the federal and state level should return their focus to stopping the administration’s unlawful carbon regulations.”

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Public’s Collective ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ on Climate Change

President Obama and the leaders of nearly 200 countries are meeting in Paris to discuss an agreement on climate change. Despite the president’s focus on climate policy, three recent polls show the public isn’t especially concerned about climate change and that any concern they do have is waning.

Recent polls by GlobeScan, Langer Research Associates, and Sky Data (the survey arm of Sky News) all show that over the past several years public concern about global warming and public support for government action on climate change has decreased. Despite a lack of public support, the Obama administration is in Paris trying to strike a deal that will raise energy costs on the poor and middle class while denying affordable energy to developing countries. These polls come as Democratic presidential candidates and Secretary of State John Kerry claim climate change is a bigger national security threat than ISIS, while the public sees terrorism and the economy as by far the most important issues facing the country.

Climate Change? Meh.

One poll, published by the research group GlobeScan, found that less than half respondents view climate change as a “very serious” issue, despite strong rhetoric from world leaders to the contrary. As the following chart shows, the GlobeScan poll, which surveyed 1,000 people in 20 different countries, found that in most countries people want their world leaders to play less of a “leadership role” in Paris than they did during the Copenhagen climate summit of 2009.

cop 21 strategy

Although sizeable majorities of people wanted their elected leaders to take a leadership role at the 2009 summit, the Copenhagen summit is widely regarded as a failure. Now, world leaders are once again attempting to strike a climate deal with much less public support than they had six years ago.

Similar polls by Langer Research Associates (LRA) and Sky Data looked at public support in the U.S. and U.K., respectively, and drew similar conclusions. Public support for climate change policy has declined over the past few years, and fewer people believe the government should be doing more to address climate change.

According to the Langer poll, which was produced for ABC News and the Washington Post, less than half of those surveyed think the government should be doing more to address climate change. By contrast, under the Bush administration, the poll revealed that a high of 70 percent of respondents thought the government should be more actively addressing climate change.

climate-change-polling-graph-langer-researchrev

Source: Langer Research Associates

In the U.K., the public is less worried about climate change and doesn’t support policies that raise energy prices. The Sky Data poll shows that one in five British citizens believes that global warming is caused by natural processes rather than human activity, a jump from just one in fourteen people two years ago.

The public also opposes government policies that raise energy prices to address climate change. According to the Sky Data poll, 54 percent of Brits oppose taxes on oil and electricity that would raise utility bills, and only one-third “would back extra taxes on products with a high carbon footprint.”

In other words, people don’t want to pay more taxes to address an issue they aren’t really concerned about.

Conclusion

At a time when the Obama administration is pushing an aggressive climate agenda in Paris, public concerns about the economy and terrorism far outpace anxieties about climate change. Rather than forcing more costly climate policies on the public, world leaders should focus their attention on the economic and national security issues that matter most to people.

Congress Must Reject Attempts to Revive PTC

Plan to Extend PTC will Cost Billions of Dollars; Hike Electricity Bills

WASHINGTON – Congress is reportedly working on a tax extenders plan that includes a five-year extension of the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC). Some have called this deal a “phase out”—resembling the plan proposed by and lobbied for by GE just last year—but make no mistake, this is a five-year extension. The PTC, which expired last year, is a massive handout to large corporations to build and operate industrial wind facilities. The subsidy is so large that a two-year extension alone could transfer $10 billion over the next decade from taxpayers to the companies who get the credit.

“We cannot continue to prop up this industry on the backs of hardworking Americans,” said American Energy Alliance Thomas Pyle. “If Congress extends the PTC, they are handing out checks to large corporate welfare queens, advancing Obama’s climate agenda, and sticking consumers with higher electricity bills and less dependable electricity.”

Extending the PTC is a special interest giveaway to an industry that depends on government handouts to survive. A study by the Institute for Energy Research found electricity produced from new wind facilities is up to four times more expensive than from existing traditional sources, including nuclear and coal.

These two facts — that it’s corporate welfare and that wind produces unaffordable energy — should be reason enough for Congress to oppose the PTC. But it’s more than just another subsidy — it’s also central to President Obama’s climate agenda.

The centerpiece of this agenda is the Obama Administration’s new regulation on existing power plants, which would force states to fundamentally restructure their electricity sector. New wind and solar are so crucial to the mandate that the regulation establishes a coercive scheme that “rewards” states that agree to offer more subsidies for wind and solar.

By hiding wind power’s true cost, the PTC makes wind power seem more appealing to states that may need to comply with the Administration’s carbon regulation. This is how the PTC and Obama’s carbon agenda are mutually supportive and inseparable.

Simply put, Congress has an opportunity to take a principled stand against corporate welfare and the president’s climate agenda by rejecting an extension of the PTC.

The American Energy Alliance will score against any deal that includes a PTC extension. 

Click here to read more on why Congress should reject a PTC extension.

Click here to see which representatives oppose the PTC.

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Time to Halt Big Wind’s Gravy Train

Congress is reportedly considering a deal to revive a package of expired tax provisions known as tax extenders. While it contains a number of popular items, the deal would also extend corporate welfare central to President Obama’s climate agenda: the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC). Speaker Ryan should protect American families from the impacts of the President’s plan to make electricity prices skyrocket by rejecting a PTC extension.

The PTC is a wealth transfer from working families to the wind industry. As Republican Study Committee Chair Representative Bill Flores put it, the PTC a “special interest giveaway.” A recent study by my organization, the Institute for Energy Research, found that taxpayers in 30 states and D.C. are net losers on the PTC—they pay more to support wind subsides than wind companies in their states receive in handouts.

These handouts transfer billions of dollars from taxpayers to large corporations. Many of the largest PTC recipients are foreign-owned energy conglomerates that have grown accustomed to handouts. But with subsidies drying up abroad, they’re turning to U.S. taxpayers to keep the spigot open.

The Senate Finance Committee estimated a two-year extension would cost taxpayers more than $10 billion over the next decade, but the deal Congress is considering would be even more costly, extending the PTC for five years. It should come as no surprise that the rumored deal is being referred to by some as a “phase out”—resembling the plan proposed by and lobbied for by GE just last year.

But make no mistake—this is a five-year extension. Should Congress move forward with this deal, it will come as an early Christmas present to large, multinational corporations like GE at the expense of taxpayers everywhere.

PTC Extension is More Than a Handout to Big Wind 

Congress’ PTC deal isn’t just a handout to Big Wind. It also gives a helping hand to President Obama.

As world leaders gather in Paris for yet another climate summit, the president is touting new EPA regulations as a “historic step” to address climate change. Those regulations, the so-called “Clean Power Plan,” will cost $292 billion, hike electricity prices by double digits in 40 states, and achieve zero climate benefits.

Obama’s carbon regulation depends on rapid wind-power growth, as our analysts have pointed out. Since wind power is expensive, it needs government support to compete. That’s where the PTC comes in.

The PTC plays a key role in propping up expensive, unreliable wind power. As Warren Buffett has said, “On wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.”

Congress can’t seem to decide whether it supports the American people or Obama’s climate agenda. On the one hand, the House and Senate passed CRA resolutions striking down the president’s new carbon regulation. On the other, they may revive corporate handouts that Obama is banking on to make his carbon regulations succeed.

Wind power, driven by handouts like the PTC, is Obama’s best hope for salvaging a climate legacy that has been marred by green stimulus failures like Solyndra and failed legislative initiatives like national cap-and-trade, RPS, and carbon taxes.

If the Senate votes to revive and extend the PTC yet again, the House, under Speaker Ryan’s leadership, will have to decide whether to stand on principle, and with the American people, or with industrial wind lobbyists and President Obama.