WASHINGTON – Today, Senate Finance Committee Democrats blocked an amendment offered by U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) offered during the markup of the Clean Energy for America Act that would require that in order to be eligible for the Clean Electricity Production Credit, all components used in the construction of wind turbines, solar cells, and energy storage technology must be manufactured or mined using goods produced in a net-zero emissions manner, as verified by the EPA.
“This bill requires that there must be zero emissions from electricity generation to access credit, with guidelines that severely disadvantages carbon capture technologies and geothermal technologies while ignoring the lifecycle emissions from renewable energy and energy storage. I hope this is a drafting error, both carbon capture and geothermal are expressly named by every reputable climate study as vital for achieving climate goals. Writing statutes that benefits one technology over another is the opposite of what this bill claims to be,” said Dr. Cassidy.
This amendment was also cosponsored by U.S. Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Steve Daines (R-MT).
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