The stimulus package is over - Thank You

[Guest Boone]

The battle for the stimulus package is over and – thanks to you – we were very successful on the wind side of the Pickens Plan.

 

Here is the list of items which are included in the stimulus package:

 

A 3-year Production Tax Credit (PTC) extension through the end of 2012

An option to elect a 30% Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in place of the PTC

An option to convert the Investment Tax Credit into a grant for projects placed in service in 2009, or 2010, or placed in service before 2013 provided construction begins in 2009 or 2010

A new $6 billion Department of Energy renewable energy and transmission loan guarantee program, which should fund around $60 billion in principal amount of guaranteed loans

Authority for the Western Area Power Administration to borrow up to $3.25 billion from the Treasury to build renewable transmission lines in the western United States, including western Texas

Did the New Energy Army have an impact?

 

Absolutely.

 

Last summer, when we started this effort, no one would have believed that 1.4 million Americans would join together to affect energy legislation in the Congress of the United States. But last week alone, over a 3 day period, we generated over 60,000 emails to Members of the United States House and Senate urging their support.

 

You can like or dislike the stimulus package, and I’m not qualified enough to speak to the entire package or its economic prospects. But I do know energy, and I know the aspects of the stimulus plan that address this subject are critical and beneficial. But they are also a first step.

 

We’ve still got more work to do to end our dependence on foreign oil, especially on the natural gas side of the Pickens Plan. I said on CNBC that the battle now shifts to the House and Senate Energy Committees to begin moving the country from imported gasoline and diesel to domestic natural gas.

 

I’ll be coming back to you in the next few days with a plan to have a serious impact on foreign oil.

 

Pat yourselves on the back. Take ten. Then get ready to saddle up and start again.

 

Thank you.

 

-Boone