House OKs 26 cent/barrel tax increase for Oil Spill Trust Fund

Before adjourning for Memorial Day, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a tax-extender package that includes an oil tax increase of 26 cents a barrel.

The bill increases a tax on the oil industry to 34 cents a barrel from 8 cents a barrel. This money would go into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

The fund helps cover economic and natural resource costs above the $75 million liability cap for private companies. The bill also raises the per-incident cap for payments from the Trust Fund to $5B from the current $1B.

The bill extends for one year (retroactive to Jan. 1) energy tax credits for biodiesel, renewable diesel, energy efficiency and alternative vehicles fuel.

It also extends the “doc fix,” which each year prevents drastic cuts in Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals.

A second bill passed that authorizes the Defense Department to spend $470M on energy efficiency, renewable energy and environmental cleanup. This is the bill that includes an amendment repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

This bill provides $5M for a pilot project to develop a microgrid. Another provision says DOD can stop contracts with BP if it is not considered a “responsible source.”

It allows government agencies to buy alternative fuels whose lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions exceed conventional fuel (i.e. tar sands) so long as less than half of that fuel comes from such sources.

Both measures will move to the Senate after the break. Their future there is uncertain.

(Source E&E News PM)

Tax credit extensions for wind, solar and efficiency pass Senate but await uncertain future

Although the Senate voted 88-8 last week to add $6 billion in tax credit extensions for renewable energy and efficiency to a housing bill, the future of the plan is still in question. The House passed a larger bill in February that was paid for by the repeal of oil subsidies, but it narrowly failed in the Senate. The bill passed last week did not include offsetting revenue and House leaders object to that. Because of the uncertain outcome, Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.)his writing his own energy tax-credit bill, which he plans to unveil next week. The tax credits are due to expire the end of the year. (Source: Greenwire)