FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.
Contact: Chris Christensen, V.P. Public Affairs
703-536-7776
Homeowners Urge Senate to Pass Energy Bill
WASHINGTON DC, December 8, 2003- The American Homeowners Grassroots
Alliance today urged Senators returning from their Thanksgiving break to
renew their efforts to find compromises that will enable the Senate to
pass the measure. The House-passed and the pending Senate legislation both
contain important tax incentives to reduce homeowners’ energy costs and
increase energy efficiency and conservation.
The bill gives homeowners a 20 percent tax credit of up to $2,000 for
remodeling projects that improve energy efficiency in existing homes. It
will also provide a $1,000 tax credit for the construction of a new home
that is at least 30 percent more energy-efficient than a home built under
the 2000 International Energy Conservation Code IECC). For homes built at
least 50 percent above the 2000 IECC the tax credit is $2,000. “Both of
these incentives will help homeowners and the environment”, said AHGA
President Beth Hahn. “From an economic standpoint it will reduce the
time it takes to break even for energy efficiency investments, and that
should encourage more homeowners to invest in energy efficient remodeling
projects and new homes. Everyone – homeowners, builders, remodeling
contractors, and the environment wins from these market-based incentives”
she added.
Other elements of the package will also help both homeowners and the
environment. Part of the total that has been set aside for incentives for
conservation and energy efficiency is devoted to provisions intended to
increase energy efficiency in cars and appliances and to promote wind
power generators and hybrid passenger cars running on gasoline and
batteries. The proposal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
to oil and gas exploration was dropped.
Recognizing that the process of weaning the nation of environmentally
undesirable hydrocarbon fuels will take time however, legislators provided
funding for advanced technologies that allow utilities to burn abundant
and relatively cheap supplies of U.S. coal while reducing greenhouse gases
that cause global warming. Looking towards more environmentally friendly
alternatives to oil, gas and coal over the longer term, more than $100
million a year in production tax credits was provided for about a
half-dozen new nuclear plants using advanced designs that will be safer,
and more importantly, produce no greenhouse gases. They also provided
funding for development of hydrogen engines for cars.
The bill provides incentives for utilities to invest in improvements to
the nation's electricity grid and tax breaks and policy incentives aimed
at increasing domestic oil and gas production. Those, and extensive new
subsidies that would sharply increase the production of ethanol fuel made
from corn and biodiesel fuel made from soybeans, were controversial from
an environmental and/or economic standpoint but were important in bringing
together enough votes to pass the legislation.
“The legislation is far from perfect,” observed Ms Hahn. “While
the bill includes many provisions that will help homeowners and the
environment, it is clear that it will not move the nation away from
hydrocarbon energy dependency in the short term. It is nonetheless an
important first step and is realistically the best that we could expect in
the current political environment. It will provide the groundwork for more
improvements in the future.”
AHGA is a national bipartisan advocacy organization representing the
nation’s 70 million homeowners. The Alliance believes that policies that
encourage and protect home ownership are in our national best interest.
Those policies encourage and sustain the maintenance of a strong and broad
middle class, build a sense of community and responsibility, and
facilitate investment in homes, which are the largest, most universal
savings/equity-building vehicle for most Americans. AHGA’s positions and
more information about the organization are available at
www.AmericanHomeowners.org |