One of E2’s biggest federal priorities has been ensuring that Congress and President Trump didn’t kill clean energy with their 2017 tax reform legislation.
When Congress began debating the tax bill, E2 knew that clean energy incentives such as the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for solar and the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind would be in the crosshairs. We also knew other incentives for offshore wind, electric vehicles and energy efficiency tax credits would be on the chopping block as well.
Marshalling our national membership of business leaders and harnessing our strengths in communications, advocacy, we got to work.
- In opinion pieces in Louisiana, Tennessee, Colorado, Iowa and elsewhere, E2 members and supporters repeatedly urged lawmakers to preserve these clean energy incentives in the tax code.
- Through four separate advocacy trips to Washington during 2017, and using materials like this fact sheet, E2 members and partners elicited repeated promises from lawmakers that they would not roll back incentives.
- As the House and Senate began to debate their tax bills, we launched a targeted digital ad campaign pressing lawmakers in states including Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada. These ads reached around 1.5 million Americans in strategic states and districts, many of whom shared our posts and signed on to tell their congressional representatives.
- We used a national tax alert, along with state-specific letters that highlighted for targeted lawmakers why their constituents were opposed to changing the clean energy tax incentives.
- E2 staff and members place phone calls and made visits to Congressional staff in the closing days of the debate over the tax bill.
In the end, our work helped preserve the PTC and ITC provisions and other harmful language that had been in the bill was removed or improved.
The final bill passed by Congress on Dec. 19 was far from perfect. But it showed that E2 members and staff can have victories, even when times are tough and the odds are stacked against us.