Congressmen Panetta and Cook Lead Bipartisan Letter in Support of Clean Energy Jobs

WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, June 25 Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Congressman Paul Cook (R-CA-8) led 48 bipartisan members of Congress, an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, in requesting House leadership preserve clean energy jobs by delaying and pushing out the phase down of clean energy investment tax credits.



“The central coast of California is home to thousands of clean energy jobs, and clean energy tax incentives support those jobs.  Due to this pandemic, however, projects have been on hold and workers have been let go, with critical tax credits going unused,” said Congressman Panetta.  “Delaying the phase down of these tax credits and extending their timeline will preserve the clean energy industry and its workforce, and ensure that we have the capacity to continue to deploy low- or no-emission energy generation so we can fight the climate crisis while supporting our economic recovery.”



“As constituents and companies are suffering from the impacts of COVID-19, Congress should utilize tax-incentives to assist struggling businesses. We should extend these clean-energy tax incentives which will help preserve and create jobs and bolster the economy. I thank Congressman Panetta for joining me in leading this strong bipartisan effort,” said Congressman Cook.



Since the start of the pandemic, the clean energy industry has lost 600,000 jobs, and the survival of clean energy companies have been put at risk due to cancelled sales and losses of projects in the pipeline.  This letter requests House leadership to delay and push out the phase downs of tax incentives in Sections 48 and 25D of the Internal Revenue Code, which support clean energy generation technologies.