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April 4, 2008

Ensuring Our Energy Future by Extending Renewable Tax Incentives

I recently joined my Senate colleagues in a bipartisan plan to extend tax credits for renewable energy that without congressional action will expire at the end of this year. The plan is critical to sustaining renewable energy activities—such as wind and solar power—currently taking place across the country, including New Mexico.

The Clean Energy Tax Stimulus Act of 2008 (S.2021) (PDF 105 KB) would provide a one-year extension of the renewable energy production tax credit, as well as an eight-year extension of the solar energy and fuel cell investment tax credit, in addition to other incentives for clean energy and energy efficiency technologies such as wind, biomass, geothermal, small irrigation power, landfill gas, trash combustion and hydropower facilities.

New Mexico is a leader in a wide range of research and activity related to solar energy development, including cutting edge programs at Sandia National Laboratories and New Mexico State University. The state has also implemented a significant personal tax credit program—30 percent of a solar system's cost up to $9,000.

I was proud to help author the largest and most significant tax credits for clean energy technology in our nation's history. However, I believe recent breakthroughs in solar technologies, including those taking place in New Mexico, could face major setbacks without congressional action on these crucial tax credit programs.

I intend to work with fellow lawmakers to ensure that the breakthroughs we have seen in clean energy over the past 10-15 years continue far beyond my time in the Senate. First, though, we must find the necessary support in Congress to extend these credits before they expire. I believe S.2021 provides us with a good vehicle to get that done.

For more information on New Mexico's clean and renewable energy incentives and programs, visit: http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/ECMD/index.htm.