A Senate Democrat from Delaware and a Republican in the House of Representatives from Texas Wednesday introduced bills to open tax-friendly corporate rules available to the oil and natural gas industry for decades to renewable power, energy efficiency and biofuels projects.
"It levels the playing field," said Representative Ted Poe, a Texas Republican, during a news conference with Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat.
Coons and Poe introduced companion bills, known as the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act, Wednesday in the Senate and House. The bills would allow a number of new energy projects to form as MLPs, structures which free them from being taxed at both the corporate and shareholder levels and treated as partnerships for tax purposes. Oil and gas pipeline projects have been allowed to be structured as MLPs for nearly 30 years.
Coons said the bill would force the federal government to "stop picking winners and losers" in the energy industry and help renewable projects to avoid double taxation.
The bill is a beefed up version of the MLP bills Coons and Poe introduced, but never got passed, in 2012. In addition to expanding MLP treatment to renewable energy projects, including wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, small irrigation, municipal solid waste, hydropower and marine and hydrokinetic energy, the new bill would allow electricity storage devices, waste heat to power, biochemical, carbon capture and storage and energy efficient buildings to form as MLPs.
The bills also include a broader range of bipartisan and industry support than the bill which languished in committee in 2012.
Coons' bill is sponsored by senators Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat and the chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee; Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican.
In a statement, Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and chairman of the energy committee, said he supports the bill.
Poe's identical House bill is sponsored by Mike Thompson, a California Democrat; Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat; and Chris Gibson, a New York Republican.
Ian Koski, a Coons spokesman, said offsets to cover the costs of the legislation have yet to be identified.
