T Boone Pickens welcomes economic stimulus plan, energy policy progress

11 February 2009

T Boone Pickens offered the following comment on the passage of the US Senate version of the economic stimulus plan and the progress made on energy policy and investment.

He said, ‘The Senate has taken another important step forward with the energy provisions in the stimulus bill that include investments in renewable energy, encourage conservation and provide funding to rebuild our nation’s transmission grid, all of which are critical elements of the Pickens Plan and all of which create jobs. While the House and the Senate will begin efforts to reconcile their legislation and present a bill to President Obama, we need to make sure that we remember that this is only the start of the effort on energy.

‘There is much more to do on real energy policy reform. We need to shift our focus to a serious energy bill that addresses the real goal – to reduce our dependence on foreign oil – which will have significant benefits for America by removing one of the greatest threats to our national security and making us more economically secure. The only way to accomplish that goal is to use our abundant supply of domestic fuels in transportation. The Senate and House stimulus legislation still fall short of capitalizing on the potential of natural gas and so I will continue my efforts to focus our government on the benefits of natural gas as Washington further tackles energy policy in the coming months,’ he added.

The Pickens Plan provisions to promote renewable energy include:

• A 3-year extension of the Production Tax Credit for wind projects and an option to choose an Investment Tax Credit in lieu of the Production Tax Credit

• $8bn to fund a new renewable loan guarantee program, potentially providing loan guarantees to over $80bn in new renewable project and transmission project loans

• A new investment tax credit for renewable energy manufacturers

• An additional year of bonus depreciation for 2009

• Targeted provisions to encourage renewable transmission

According to Pickens, while the Senate economic stimulus bill makes some progress, there remain some additional actions that should be taken in conference with the House of Representatives on their legislation including:

• Include the House passed provision enabling renewable developers to exchange their investment tax credits for grants of equal value from the Department of Energy, but extend the program through 2011

• Provide direction to the Department of Energy to improve the loan guarantee program so that it provides an efficient process for applying for and receiving loan guarantees

Unveiled last year, the Pickens Plan is a solution for ending the US’ growing dependence on foreign oil.

Copyright © 2009 newnet

Tags: policy, renewable energy, smart grid

This story was published on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 3:31 pm and is filed under North America, companies, energy efficiency, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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