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Each year, Women of Wind Energy (WoWE) awards fellowships to women college students or recent graduates to attend the annual American Wind Energy Association WINDPOWER conference.

Previous awardees include engineers, lawyers, PhDs, MBAs, technicians, meteorologists, economists and more from schools like Stanford, Columbia Gorge Community College, James Madison, UC Boulder, Appalachian State, and MIT.

Applications…

Congress yesterday passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the Act), which averted the so-called “fiscal cliff.” The President is expected to sign the Act shortly.

The Act includes a number of energy-related tax provisions, including a one-year extension and modification of the production tax credit under Section 45 of the Internal Revenue Code (the PTC) for certain renewable energy facilities. The energy-related provisions in the Act include:

  • PTC Extensions and Modifications – The PTC is extended and modified for certain types of facilities. These extensions and modifications include:
    • In the case of wind, geothermal, landfill gas, trash, marine, and hydrokinetic facilities and certain closed-loop biomass, open-loop biomass, and qualified hydropower facilities, the PTC will apply if construction begins before January 1, 2014 (rather than if the facilities are placed in service before January 1, 2014). The Act does not specify what it means to begin construction for this purpose, although there are analogous authorities that have been adopted for other purposes that may be applied. Note, however, that a facility to which this extension applies may qualify for the PTC even if it is not placed in service before January 1, 2014.

       

    • The PTC for municipal solid waste facilities is modified to exclude from the definition of municipal solid waste certain paper that is commonly recycled and that has been segregated from other solid waste.

       

    • The election to claim the investment tax credit rather than the PTC for certain facilities is extended to apply to certain facilities with respect to which construction begins prior to January 1, 2014.

       

    • The PTC for Indian coal production facilities is extended for one year, to apply to sales of qualified production during the eight-year period (rather than the previous seven-year period) beginning on January 1, 2006.
       

Continue Reading Fiscal Cliff Bill Includes PTC Extension and Other Energy-Related Provisions

          Stoel Rives partner Bev Pearman reviewed the complaint filed Monday in American Tradition Institute, et al., v. Colorado and prepared this analysis:

          On April 4, 2011, the American Tradition Institute (“ATI”), the American Tradition Partnership (“ATP”), and Rod Lueck filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado arguing that…

From our colleagues Jere Webb and Jason Davis:

On August 6, 2010, the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (“EERE”), through delegated authority by the Department of Energy, issued a nationwide limited public interest waiver under Section 1605 (the “Buy American Provisions”) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the…

Yesterday, the Energy and Treasury Departments jointly issued guidance regarding the federal income tax treatment of Smart Grid Investment Grant payments received pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The guidance, which was issued as Revenue Procedure 2010-20, generally provides that a corporation receiving a specified grant will not recognize taxable income upon…

Proposed legislation in the Senate would greatly limit the effectiveness of the grant in lieu of tax credits for renewable energy projects under section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The section 1603 grant currently applies to renewable energy projects, such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass, that are placed in service before…

President Obama issues ban on executive branch officials from speaking to lobbyists on specific stimulus projects…
Continue Reading President Obama Clamps Down on Lobbyists and First Amendment

Congressional leaders have just announced that they have reached an agreement on the details of a stimulus package.  The details have yet to be announced, other than the total cost of the bill is estimated to be $789 billion.  That amount is less than either the House or Senate bill.

We will post details as…