WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) introduced the bipartisan Financing Our Energy Future Act, which allows renewable energy resources and infrastructure projects to access financing tools currently only available to select types of energy projects. The Financing Our Energy Future Act would allow clean energy resources and infrastructure projects to form as master limited partnerships (MLPs), a tax structure currently only available to fossil fuel-based energy projects.
“America’s renewable energy technology is on the cutting edge of how we produce and use energy. It’s time for our tax code to catch up,” said Senator Coons. “The bipartisan Financing Our Energy Future Act will ensure that clean energy technologies can benefit from the incentives that traditional energy sources have relied on for decades, supporting good-paying American jobs and strengthening our energy security. Creating new ways to finance these projects will increase investments in clean energy sources and bolster our ability to reduce emissions in the U.S. power sector.”
“Being energy independent requires an all-of-the-above approach to energy production,” said Senator Moran. “Emerging renewable energy companies currently do not have access to a number of tax incentives available to fossil fuel companies. Expanding these incentives to more companies will increase U.S. energy production and help reduce prices for consumers.”
An MLP is a business structure that is taxed as a partnership, but whose ownership interests are traded like corporate stock on a market. By statute, MLPs are currently only available to investors in energy portfolios for oil, natural gas, coal extraction, and pipeline projects; in order for projects to be an MLP, at least 90 percent of the project’s income must come from qualified sources, such as natural resources – including crude oil, natural gas, petroleum, and coal. This legislation would amend the Internal Revenue Code to extend the publicly traded partnership ownership structure to renewable and green energy power generation projects.
Senator Coons previously introduced the bill in the 117th Congress.
In addition to Senators Coons and Moran, this legislation is also cosponsored by Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.).
The legislation has received the endorsement of the Advanced Biofuels Association, American Clean Power Association, American Council on Renewable Energy, BPC Action, Clean Air Task Force, ClearPath Action, Energy Infrastructure Council, International District Energy Association, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Innovation Alliance, and Third Way.
Full text of the bill is available here. A one-pager of the bill is available here.
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