The spending bill that Congress passed last month helps the Environmental Protection Agency’s far-reaching emission regulations, the White House says.
The omnibus bill that extended wind and solar tax credits for five years “bridges the low carbon future … to the Clean Power Plan” and “ensures that clean energy wins,” said Richard Duke, deputy director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change, at a Thursday event in Washington hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Clean Power Plan is the centerpiece of the president’s climate change agenda, which is hotly contested by the GOP and industry for picking winners and losers in favor of renewable energy.
The spending bill that included the tax deal was passed in a bipartisan deal ahead of the Christmas recess last month.
The five-year extension of the solar and wind credits provide a “clear, stable foundation to continuing to scale up [renewables] and bridge right up to EPA’s Clean Power Plan,” Duke said.
The Clean Power Plan goes into effect in 2022, requiring states to reduce emissions a third by 2030. The tax credits phase down within the EPA plan’s compliance period.
