U.S. Representative Tim Bishop was one of many who voted in favor of the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, approved by Congress recently by a vote of 236-182.
The vote comes shortly after the five big oil companies reported record profits for 2007, with ExxonMobil earning $40.6 billion, the largest corporate profit in American history.
Mr. Bishop said the legislation—which repeals $18 billion in excessive tax subsidies for multinational oil and gas companies—will make new investments in renewable energy sources, create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, help reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, slash taxpayer funded subsidies to oil companies and protect the environment. To accomplish this the bill will extend and expand tax incentives for renewable electricity, energy and fuel; for plug-in hybrid cars; and for energy efficient homes, buildings, and appliances. The bill also includes solar energy tax credits that would help reduce carbon dioxide pollution by 240 million tons.
The Geothermal Energy Association estimates that these new investments in wind, solar, geothermal and fuel cell technology could create tens of thousands of new jobs and stimulate tens of billions of dollars of new investment in geothermal energy production.
on Mar 10, 2008