On September 23, the Senate voted 93-2 to pass the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 extending renewable energy tax incentives, including Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREB) for municipal utilities and not-for-profit electric cooperatives.

The House leadership has insisted on Davis-Bacon rules for municipal and not-for-profit cooperatives that use CREBs—a condition not imposed upon investor-owned utilities that use the PTC. Because the Senate version does not include the Davis-Bacon language, the House left the CREB program out of their version of the bill.

Glenn English, CEO of NRECA, today in a letter urged Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Rangel to reconsider their decision to drop the CREB program from the tax package. English noted that the program "is critical to ensuring that not-for-profit electric cooperatives and municipal utilities can invest in renewable generation."

In the scant time since the inception of the CREB program, cooperatives have made aggressive use of this valuable financial tool: More than 30 co-ops have used or are currently using over $450 million in CREB financing to fund more than 100 projects.

Renewable energy development has flourished as a result of this program, the Production Tax Credit and other incentives. In 2005 co-ops owned or purchased 927 MW of renewable capacity. By the end of 2008, co-ops will have more than doubled this number, adding 1,205 MW of new capacity for a total of 2,132 MW. This is a capacity increase of 130% in just three years since renewable energy incentives have been in place.