Making the green

Congresswoman Shelley Berkeley announced the Clean Energy Jobs Act on Jan. 12, which will extend the 30 percent clean energy manufacturing tax credit. The act is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which has led to the development of projects such as Amonix solar power facility in Las Vegas. According to the Clean Energy Project, the facility cost $6 million to build and created more than 300 sustainable jobs, and the Section 48C tax credit will “incentivize the creation of thousands of new clean energy manufacturing jobs in the state.”

In a CEP press release, the organization states, “The proposed extension will be paid for by ending nearly $21 billion in taxpayer subsidies to the oil industry. According to several reports … subsidies to polluting fuel industries have dwarfed those for clean energy industries, while also persisting for decades beyond the need to spur early production.”