Berkley bill extends tax credits for ‘clean energy’ manufacturers

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., on Wednesday introduced a bill to extend a 30 percent tax credit for companies that manufacture "clean energy" components like solar panels and wind turbines.

Berkley would inject $5 billion into the program that awarded $2.3 billion in credits as an element of the Obama administration's stimulus program.

President Barack Obama has urged Congress to pass an extension, and it has been included in a handful of bills introduced this session. Berkley announced she would join the effort while touring the environmental Desert Research Institute in Reno in January.

Tax credits were granted to 183 projects under the Obama program, which Berkley said was estimated to have generated more than 17,000 jobs.

In Nevada $5.9 million was awarded to solar panel manufacturer Amonix Inc., where as it turns out 200 of its workers were laid off in January when the company said it was retooling its production line.

Berkley would pay for the new tax breaks by limiting tax deductions available to major oil companies. She has made "closing big oil tax loopholes" one of the central elements of her campaign for U.S. Senate.

Berkley said the bill "gets our priorities lined up with our values."