LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME


[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]

Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

Get weekly updates
RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Stripe

Donate via Paypal

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

South Carolina House stalls renewable energy tax breaks that solar advocates wanted, halting bill this year 

Credit:  By Andrew Brown | The Post and Courier | May 2, 2017 | www.postandcourier.com ~~

COLUMBIA – After receiving wide-spread support in the Senate more than three months ago, state representatives derailed a pro-solar energy bill that would reduce property taxes for renewable energy projects in South Carolina.

A House subcommittee chaired by Rep. Brian White, R-Anderson, voted to end debate on the sought-after legislation, which solar industry officials say could increase investment of renewable energy projects in the state – a sector that is worth billions of dollars.

The proposed law would allow commercial-sized solar projects to reduce their property taxes by 80 percent, and would ensure that rooftop solar installations on residential homes are not assessed under property tax laws.

The legislation had been passed by the Senate in early February but had been stalled in the House Ways and Means Committee, that White chairs, for most of the session.

In voting down the bill, White argued that if solar projects start increasing dramatically because of property tax incentives, there wouldn’t be enough land for farming and timber in South Carolina.

It was unfair, White said, to give solar and distributed energy sources tax breaks and not to give the state’s large utility companies – Duke Energy and South Carolina Electric & Gas – the same deal. He said solar companies can currently negotiate lower property taxes for solar projects on a county by county basis.

White also emphasized to the audience during the hours-long committee meeting that he was environmentally conscious. He’s a hunter, he said, which makes him the “ultimate conservationist.”

“I laugh at the greenies ’cause sometimes they just don’t like me, and that’s just fine. The good lord and I are on good ground, so I don’t worry about them,” White said.

There was no discussion during the hearing about how renewable energy reduces carbon output from fossil fuel power plants that are the largest contributors to human-induced global warming worldwide.

Bret Sowers with the S.C. Solar Business Alliance, testified the bill is needed to increase investment in South Carolina. He said proposed solar projects could help meet demand for electricity in the future if the new reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant don’t get completed.

“What we want to build is a standardized tax structure for these facilities,” Sowers said.

Source:  By Andrew Brown | The Post and Courier | May 2, 2017 | www.postandcourier.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Contributions
   Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)
Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI M TG TS G Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook Wind Watch on Linked In

Wind Watch on Mastodon Wind Watch on Truth Social

Wind Watch on Gab Wind Watch on Bluesky