Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont and one of the national presidential candidates, has introduced a bill that would permanently extend the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for advanced clean energy property and expand the 30% credit to offshore wind facilities.
The American Clean Energy Investment Act of 2015, introduced in Senate on 10 December, would also permanently extend the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for renewable electricity generation from sources including wind, open- and closed-loop biomass, geothermal, solar, and marine and hydrokinetic energy.
For onshore wind facilities, starting in 2022, it would gradually reduce the value of the PTC, to a rate of 1.1 cents/kWH for facilities that commence construction starting in 2025.
According to Sanders, the bill would stimulate a strong sustainable economy by spurring massive new investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Through the permanent extension of important clean energy tax credits, the legislation would cut carbon pollution, create clean energy jobs, reduce Americans’ dependence on oil and save consumers and businesses money by promoting energy efficiency, Sanders said.
Along with the renewable energy bill, he also introduced The Clean Energy Worker Just Transition Act, which would help coal miners and other fossil fuel workers and their families by connecting displaced workers with new job opportunities through vocational education and job skills programs. The bill would provide support so transitioning workers and their families could maintain family-level wages, health care and pensions until they are able to start new jobs.
“We have a moral responsibility to help working families in the fossil fuel industry find new jobs,” Sanders said. “We must act now to reenergize our manufacturing base, bolster our clean energy economy and protect the livelihoods of these workers and the communities they support.”
The bills, both co-sponsored by senators Jeff Merkley and Edward J. Markey, would create new sustainable energy jobs and allocate $41 billion to helping oil, gas and coal workers as they transition out of the fossil fuel industry, Sanders said in a press release.