Industry Take: How Will 2014 Elections Impact Biomass?

- by Bob Cleaves, Novem­ber 23, 2014, Bio­mass Magazine

On Nov. 4, Amer­i­cans vot­ed. This elec­tion was a deci­sive vic­to­ry for Repub­li­cans. Sen­ate, House, guber­na­to­r­i­al and even state leg­is­la­ture races across the coun­try saw con­ser­v­a­tives pre­vail. These results were expect­ed, sur­pris­ing to polit­i­cal types only in the thor­ough­ness of the wins across the board.

What does this mean for bio­mass? It’s clear that this elec­tion sig­nals the need to adjust our inter­ac­tions with elect­ed offi­cials, but it’s not yet clear what shape that change will take. We will have a bet­ter sense of the new Congress’s direc­tion after it is sworn in. The ini­tial signs, how­ev­er, indi­cate that there will be a lot we can work with, begin­ning with an empha­sis on the eco­nom­ic ben­e­fits of biomass.

We expect that renew­able ener­gy, which had been gain­ing momen­tum as a key issue among Demo­c­ra­t­ic lead­er­ship, will not be as high a pri­or­i­ty for this Con­gress. Rather than focus­ing on the envi­ron­men­tal ben­e­fits of bio­mass, there will like­ly be a renewed inter­est in bio­mass as an ener­gy source that employs tens of thou­sands of Amer­i­cans in rur­al areas.

With a Demo­c­ra­t­ic pres­i­dent and a ful­ly Repub­li­can Con­gress, many antic­i­pate a con­tin­u­a­tion of the grid­lock that has defined Wash­ing­ton the past few years. How­ev­er, that hasn’t always been the case. Pres­i­dent Clin­ton accom­plished a lot, includ­ing bal­anc­ing the fed­er­al bud­get, while work­ing with a two-cham­ber Repub­li­can Con­gress begin­ning in 1994. To that end, one issue that may be pos­si­ble for Pres­i­dent Oba­ma and Con­gress to work togeth­er on is tax reform—a prime oppor­tu­ni­ty to advo­cate for the much-need­ed ener­gy tax over­haul that could help our indus­try. Unaf­fect­ed by this week’s elec­tions is the fate of the tax exten­ders. With just a few days left in this year’s leg­isla­tive cal­en­dar, the lame-duck Con­gress will like­ly take up pro­pos­als in both cham­bers to extend Sec­tion 45 tax cred­its, includ­ing cred­its for biomass.

Many strong bio­mass sup­port­ers kept their seats for the 114th Con­gress. Rep. Ann Kuster, a Demo­c­rat from New Hamp­shire and a promi­nent sup­port­er of bio­mass, was reelect­ed. Sen. Jeanne Sha­heen, also a Demo­c­rat from New Hamp­shire, man­aged a vic­to­ry in a close race with for­mer Mass­a­chu­setts Sen. Scott Brown. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a long-time sup­port­er of the for­est prod­ucts indus­try, also sailed to vic­to­ry. Many more bio­mass sup­port­ers whose races were not con­test­ed will be com­ing back to Con­gress as well.

Right now, the most we can do is spec­u­late as to how things will go over the next cou­ple of years. We do know that there will be changes, but luck­i­ly for bio­mass, we have a lot of appeal for offi­cials of any polit­i­cal stripe. As an indus­try, we will con­tin­ue to work with our exist­ing pro­po­nents, and ensure that new­ly elect­ed offi­cials are aware of bio­mass and the need to sup­port the many men and women who work hard to cre­ate ener­gy from wood residues.