Since our last update at Committee Days in November, weve gained some traction in Washington with our proposal for an industrial energy efficiency tax credit. The exciting news is that Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who sits on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, has personally expressed interest in sponsoring such legislation, and a draft of the bill is being worked on by her staff as we go to press! At the same time, we have contacts on the House Ways & Means Committee as well.
Thats real progress especially when we consider that many congressional staffers are still living out of boxes as both the House and Senate leadership changed from Democrat to Republican as a result of the elections. Our goal is to get a bill sponsored during this session of Congress and then begin building a coalition in support of that bill. That support will include the participation of NIA members in calling or writing to their legislators, as well as plant tours to demonstrate energy efficiency.
NIA, supported by its Foundation, has been working for the past two years with the staff and lobbyists associated with our friends at NAIMA and the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) to introduce a 20% tax credit that any commercial or industrial concern could apply to energy-saving investments like insulation. In order to qualify for the credit, NIA Certified Energy Appraisers would be called upon to document the resulting energy savings and reductions in air pollution by using the 3E Plus software program.
Senator Snowe is a veteran in Washington who is committed to energy efficiency as well as clean air. In addition, she recently took over as Chairman of the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee, where she is working on ways to help small businesses especially manufacturers -- become more competitive in a global marketplace. We can prove that an investment in insulation will have long-term positive effects on the productivity of both small and large manufacturers. And with energy prices on a steep rise again, those savings become even more dramatic and timely. Our tax credit would fit well in any economic stimulus package, and we are working to be part of such a plan as well.
The bottom line is that saving energy is good policy for the United States. Through energy efficiency we can sustain our competitiveness and independence as a nation. This tax credit will help us prove without a doubt that insulation is a technology that can have a positive impact on the economy and the environment, both now and well into the future.
This article appeared in the February/March 2003
issue of NIA News.
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