Published: September 24, 2008 09:35 pm      

Senate tax breaks bill extends alternative fuels credit

BECKLEY — As clean coal technology remains an issue in this year’s presidential battle, Sen. Jay Rockefeller is applauding the Senate for passing a measure that extends the alternative fuels credit another three years.

Coal figured prominently in West Virginia’s decision to go with George Bush over Al Gore eight years ago over concerns the then-vice president’s environmental policies might inhibit production and throw miners out of work.

In recent days, Republican nominee John McCain was quoted in a public radio report as saying he disliked the practice of mountaintop mining — a divisive issue in West Virginia. And his rival for the White House, Barack Obama, likewise wants the method to stop.

This week, Obama’s running mate, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, in an Ohio campaign stop, told a rally spectator, “We’re not supporting clean coal. Guess what? China is building two every week, two dirty coal plants. And it’s polluting the United States. It’s causing people to die.”

Rockefeller said the new Senate legislation lengthens the alternative fuel credits through 2011, so that the carbon capture requirement is 50 percent. After that it, it jumps to 75 percent.

Another provision expands and extends tax credits for advanced clean coal technologies, including the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle, and other coal-electricity projects, along with industrial gasification projects.

Another feature allows a carbon capture tax credit of $10 per ton for use in enhanced oil recovery and $20 per ton for storage in geologic formations.

“This bill is also the key vehicle by which we begin to invest in energy research, including carbon capture and the sequestration and coal-to-liquids and we have a lot to show for our efforts to advance the use of clean West Virginia coal,” Rockefeller said.

The senator touted a number of provisions designed to give West Virginians some tax relief.

One renews the $250 out-of-pocket expense deduction for teachers. Another lowers the minimum qualifying income for he child tax credit from $10,000 to $8,500 so more families become eligible.

Rockefeller said the bill allows higher tax breaks to residents using their cars in community service, such as delivering meals to the homebound. Another portion extends the “brownfields” credit that defrays the costs of cleaning up contaminated sites.

Coal operators would take as much as a $10,000 tax credit to help train rescue teams. The expense deduction for safety equipment, such as communication gear, tracking devices, and self-contained air supplies and air monitoring apparatus, would be extended.

Compensation, medical and survivor benefits to miners and their families would continue by restructuring the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, the senator said. A new credit is allowed for marking coke feedstock for the steel industry.

“Our state and our coal miners are going to be on the front lines of the fight to make our nation energy independent and I’m proud to be standing next to them,” Rockefeller said.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com