Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Hatch):

S. 3876. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend and modify the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit; to the Committee on Finance.

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleague from Utah, Senator ORRIN HATCH, in introducing legislation to renew an existing Federal program to provide tax incentives for the installation of equipment to refuel cars and trucks with alternative fuels including biodiesel, gasohol, electricity, compressed natural gas, propane, liquefied natural gas, and hydrogen.

The United States continues to import far more oil than we produce. Upwards of 2/3 of the oil we use is imported from other countries, many of whom do not have Americans' best interests at heart, or worse. Similarly, 2/3 of all of the oil used in the U.S. goes to power our cars, buses, and trucks. If the U.S. is going to reduce our dependence on imported oil, it is going to have to adopt alternative transportation technologies such as plug-in hybrid and all electric vehicles, fuel cells, and natural gas vehicles. Each of these alternative technologies has pluses and minuses in terms of their technical maturity, usefulness in different types of vehicles, cost, and the availability of refueling infrastructure to support them. This legislation only addresses the need for refueling and recharging infrastructure, but without a certainty that there will be places to refuel and recharge their alternative fueled vehicles Americans are not going to buy them. No one wants to run out of fuel while looking for a place to fill up.

This legislation extends an already existing tax credit, Sec. 30C of the Tax Code, which is intended to help defray the cost of installing new alternative refueling and recharging equipment. The current credit expires in a matter of a few months at the end of calendar year 2010. Given the critical need to cut our national appetite for imported oil, it is essential that Congress extend this tax credit. This legislation would extend the existing credit for another 4 years, until the end of 2014.

The legislation also makes several changes in the credit to make it more practical. For example, this bill would make it clear that a fueling station could obtain a separate credit for each type of alternative fuel that it chooses to distribute. Right now, the credit is capped at $50,000 per location regardless of the number of fuels that it may want to sell. The bill would also expand the base credit from $50,000 to $100,000 to bring it more in line with the actual cost of refueling and recharging equipment. Third, the bill would allow the credit to cover additional upgrades to building wiring or natural gas piping or other improvements that are necessary for the installation of the alternative fuel equipment, and expand the kinds of equipment that would be covered to include on-site fuel generation. The bill would also allow an option to obtain a smaller $10,000 credit for the installation of refueling devices, such as chargers for plug-in electric cars or slow-fill natural gas compressors, in lieu of the $100,000 credit per location. Finally, the bill would allow multiple owners of buildings, such as a condominium or a co-op, to share the credit.

Continued dependence on imported oil is an economic and national security danger. Giving Americans options to use alternative fueled vehicles is one major way in which to dramatically reduce this danger. This bill does not tell Americans which kind of car or truck to buy. It does not pick winners and losers from among already recognized alternative fuels. What it would do is make the availability of all alternative motor fuels more likely, and then the market will decide which technologies work best.

I urge other Senators to support this legislation and give Americans a real chance to cut our oil imports.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record as follows:

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