The effect of the Senate tax bill on the wind and solar sector is likely unintentional — or so renewable advocates hope. Here’s where the Senate tax bill comes in: A new tax in the legislation — called the base erosion anti-abuse tax, or BEAT — is designed to discourage multinational corporations from moving profits and jobs offshore. Solar and wind representatives in Washington, including the American Wind Energy Association, the Solar Energy Industries Association and ACORE, sent a letter to senators urging them to exempt their tax credits. “While we are grateful that the Senate tax proposal leaves the current phase-down schedules for wind and solar energy tax credits unchanged, the bill’s BEAT provisions undermine our capacity to use renewable energy tax credits,” the letter read. -- “Climate change,” scrubbed: References to “climate change” in grants funded by the National Science Foundation have dropped 40 percent this year.

Source: Washington Post November 30, 2017 14:37 UTC