Congressman Panetta Secures Key Legislative Provisions in the Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act

Legislative Package Introduced by the House Ways and Means Committee
WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, November 19, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) released the following statement after the House Committee on Ways and Means introduced draft legislation, the Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act to invest in green energy and efficiency and combat climate change.
"We on the Ways and Means Committee are committed to enacting policies that will tackle the climate crisis, build more resilient infrastructure, and boost the clean energy sector and creation of green jobs. The GREEN Act is an important step in achieving those goals by building on current successful tax incentives that promote the development of green energy and promotion of efficiency improvements," said Congressman Panetta.
The GREEN Act includes Congressman Panetta’s legislation, H.R. 5163, the Green Bus Tax Credit Act, to create new tax credits for electric or hydrogen fuel cell buses. It also includes provisions of his legislation, H.R. 2040, the Clean Energy Production Parity Act to spur investment in high efficiency, low emission linear generators.  The bill also includes key priorities of the Congressman’s including an extension of the investment tax credit (ITC) for solar energy, and new incentives for energy storage that will be critical to renewable energy deployment.
The legislation also takes an important step in determining how Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data can be used to price greenhouse gas emissions, which would facilitate the administration of Congressman Panetta’s Climate Action Rebate Act, H.R. 4051.
"I am proud that the GREEN Act includes elements of my bills to develop and deploy zero-emission public transportation and invest in the emerging technology of high efficiency linear generators, and to promote renewable electricity deployment.  It’s those types of provisions in this type of serious, substantive, and commonsense legislation that will actually allow us to advance in our generation’s ongoing fight against climate change," said Congressman Panetta.
The GREEN Act includes provisions to:
Increase deployment of renewable electricity with production and investment tax credits for technologies such as solar, wind, and other clean energy sources, and expand the investor base in these technologies
Provide new support for investments in energy storage, biogas, and waste heat recovery
Expand incentives for energy efficiency and conservation in homes and buildings, with updated standards
Support widespread adoption of zero-emission cars, vans, and buses through tax credits for purchasing vehicles
Provide credits for universities to study impacts of and solutions to environmental stressors in minority and low-income communities.
Require the Treasury Department to examine the feasibility of pricing greenhouse gas emissions using existing emissions reporting data from the EPA.
The GREEN Act discussion draft is supported by the following organizations: Alliance to Save Energy, American Biogas Council, American Council on Renewable Energy, American Public Power Association, American Wind Energy Association, Baseload Power Association, Biomass Power Association, Citizens' Climate Lobby, Electric Drive Transportation Association, Energy Storage Association, Environmental Defense Fund, Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association, League of Conservation Voters, National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, National Resource Defense Council, National Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club, Solar Energy Industries Association, Union of Concerned Scientists, and U.S. Green Building Council.