HOUSE VOTE DEALS BLOW TO RENEWABLE ENERGY Updated: Tuesday, 10 Aug 2010, 4:52 PM EDTPublished : Tuesday, 10 Aug 2010, 4:52 PM EDT (NewsCore) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to slash federal renewable-energy subsidies, to help finance instead a 26 billion emergency aid package for state and local governments. The House voted to transfer 1.5 billion from the renewable-energy and transmission loan-guarantee program, dealing yet another blow to solar, wind and ethanol companies. It was the second reduction in a year and left the programs size at about 25 billion, less than half the amount originally envisioned when the Democratic-led Congress used an economic stimulus package to steer money into alternative energy projects. The Senate has already approved a similar measure. "I understand why theyre doing it -- its a nice juicy pot thats unspent," said Bryan Ashley, the chief marketing officer for solar-cell maker Suniva Inc. Still, "its always concerning when youre robbing Peter to pay Paul." The vote Tuesday will help states pay for rising costs for Medicaid, a federal program that provides health care for poor Americans. It will put at a disadvantage renewable-energy projects that have applied more recently for government funding and have not yet cleared through initial rounds of review. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will continue to seek assurances for restoration of the funds, an aide said. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has also vowed to restore funding. But at a time of big budget deficits, the funding could be hard to restore.-- Scotts Contractingscottscontracting@gmail.com http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.comhttp://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.comscotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com See the entire article at http://blog.stlouisrenewableenergy.com
