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Connecting today’s news with the research & opinion you need.

Don't Blow It

What to Know: Congress could keep or even expand a costly subsidies for renewable energy.

“The head of the US House of Representatives’ tax-writing panel may propose to prolong a federal wind energy production tax credit that is set to expire in 2020 and expand an investment credit for energy storage projects as part of an upcoming tax extenders package,” S&P Global Platts reports. “…In late 2015, the US Congress reached a bipartisan deal to extend the wind production credit by five years to projects that start construction by Jan. 1, 2020, and to phase down the investment tax credit for solar projects until it reaches 10% from 2022 onward. But Democrats, who regained control of the House in the November 2018 midterm elections, have said the Trump administration's efforts to roll back environmental regulations and withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change have fundamentally altered the market for renewable power, thereby changing the conditions under which Congress reached the 2015 tax deal.”

The TPPF Take: Congress should let the Production Tax Credit die.

“The PTC will cost U.S. taxpayers about $5.5 billion this year,” says TPPF’s Bill Peacock. “We estimate the program will cost $65.1 billion before it phases out—if it is allowed to expire this year. Additionally, the benefits of this tax credit are felt most by just 15 large companies. Americans should be concerned about how the tax system is being used to benefit big energy companies at the expense of the taxpayer.”
Birds on powerlines

Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear? 

What to know: Opponents of a pipeline in Central Texas say they’ll sue under the Endangered Species Act to get it halted.

“After a defeat in the courtroom, opponents of a $2 billion natural gas pipeline though the Texas Hill Country are turning to an endangered songbird to halt the project,” the Houston Chronicle reports. “The Hays County Commissioners Court on Tuesday voted to join a challenge under the Endangered Species Act to halt the project, arguing that Kinder Morgan’s proposed Permian Highway Pipeline would destroy habitat of the golden-cheeked warbler. With an estimated population of 27,000 left in the wild, the endangered songbird nests in the dense juniper woodlands of the Texas Hill Country but winters in the jungles of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.”

The TPPF take: The issue isn’t the golden-cheeked warbler (which is not, in fact, endangered); it’s about misuse of the Endangered Species Act in litigation.

“Groups abuse ESA not for conservation of species, but to oppose economic growth and development,” says TPPF’s Rob Henneke, who is lead counsel in the lawsuit pending at the Fifth Circuit to delist the golden-cheeked warbler. “And the newest and best data says the golden-cheeked warbler population is 19 times larger than it was when the species was placed on the Endangered Species Act list.”

Real Answers To Real Problems

What to Know: The U.N. is scolding nations working to end poverty for not doing enough—about climate change.

“Hunger is growing and the world is not on track to end extreme poverty by 2030 and meet other U.N. goals, mainly because progress is being undermined by the impact of climate change and increasing inequality, a U.N. report said Tuesday,” the Associated Press reports. “The report on progress toward achieving the 17 U.N. goals notes achievements in some areas, including a 49% fall in child mortality between 2000 and 2017 as well as electricity now reaching nearly 90% of the world’s population. But Liu Zhenmin, the U.N. undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs, said that despite some advances, ‘monumental challenges remain.’”

The TPPF Take: Access to affordable, reliable energy is exactly what alleviates poverty.

“As access to energy improves, so does life expectancy, child and maternal mortality, public health, economic growth, education, poverty, hunger, and nearly every other metric of human well-being,” says TPPF’s Mike Nasi. “The United States produces more oil and natural gas than any other country in the world — and advances in technology mean we are increasing our reserves much faster than we are depleting them. This means we have the power to lift billions worldwide from poverty.”