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Parties Make Pitch for Federal Support
Energy conservation and clean coal were the hot topics at a U.S. Senate Finance Committee field hearing in Billings, Montana , hosted by Senator Max Baucus . Over 70 people attended the hearing to discuss the role tax incentives can play in meeting rural energy needs. Electric utilities, oil and gas developers, coal companies, Montana state regulators and public interest advocates all made their pitches to the Senator on why their particular areas of interest need federal financial incentives. Senator Conrad Burns , in a letter to Senator Baucus, expressed support for tax incentives to develop nuclear power. Senator Baucus challenged all the speakers with the same question: Why are federal tax incentives needed given the current energy crisis, which should be all the incentive necessary to drive investments in additional supply, transmission and conservation?
The National Center for Appropriate Technology's Dale Horton and Nancy Hirsh of the NW Energy Coalition argued tax incentives and other public policies are needed to ensure renewables are part of the new supply mix and to spur investments in energy efficiency as a way to reduce congestion on the transmission system. Such targeted efficiency measures can cost-effectively reduce the need to build new transmission lines. Other testimony offered strong support for the wind energy production tax credit and expansion to include all renewable resources.
Tribal leaders from the Fort Peck , Eastern Shoshone and Blackfeet Tribes outlined the importance of energy development on tribal lands as part of their long-term economic development strategies. The Tribes specifically want fossil fuel resource developers to get the same tax treatment on Tribal lands as they get on non-tribal lands. Given its location on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming , the Eastern Shoshone Tribe is particularly focused on developing its oil, gas and coal reserves.
Nancy Hirsh