Common sense dictates that if we want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we must do all we can to encourage private industry to develop renewable resources such as solar and wind energy. But tax credits designed to give companies incentive to mine those resources are set to expire at the end of this year while Congress sits on the sideline, stymied on this issue as it is on countless others involving energy.
With gasoline rapidly approaching $5 a gallon, lawmakers must wake up to the fact that we can ill afford to let solar and wind energy production die on the vine. If the tax credits are allowed to expire, investment in renewable energy projects in Nevada and elsewhere is certain to dry up. As New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote this year, the credits are necessary because they would allow solar and wind energy production to remain profitable even if oil prices decline. “That’s how you launch a new energy technology and help it achieve scale, so it can compete without subsidies,” he wrote.
Congressional Democrats have advocated a variety of ways to pay for extension of the credits, including taking away tax breaks from oil companies, delaying tax breaks for businesses with foreign operations and closing a hedge fund tax loophole. But Republicans have refused to support any of these legislative proposals, even though they say they also favor extension of solar and wind credits. That Republicans refuse to sign off on any bill that attacks Big Oil is hardly surprising. They have consistently shown that they do not have the spine to rock the boat, even in the face of record oil profits. It is as though the party’s entire energy policy can be summed up in one word, drill. One can only imagine members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, especially Iran and Venezuela, sitting around a table laughing their heads off over our Congress. It would be difficult to blame them.
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