ENERGY The Wind and Solar Tax Credits Are About to Expire. Will They Come Back?

As many Americans celebrate the country’s 250th birthday this weekend, the clean energy industry will be mourning a death. Independence Day marks the expiration of federal tax credits for wind farms and solar arrays, subsidies that have been in effect in some form or another since 1978.

They may not be dead forever. Leading Democrats in Congress are preparing to reinstate the tax credits the next chance they get — whether or not the clean energy industry is asking for it.

“Republicans letting these clean energy credits expire is bad for families, bad for workers, and a gift to China,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told me in an email. “Democrats will fight to bring these incentives back and keep pushing every policy that lowers energy costs, strengthens American manufacturing, and protects America’s clean energy future.”

While the tax credits were not initially created to tackle climate change, they became the backbone of American climate policy as fossil fuel companies mired federal attempts to regulate carbon pollution in court challenges.

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