Friday, June 8, 2012

USA:

Leveling the Energy Playing Field: Senate Bill to Allow Renewable Energy MLPs (CleanTechnica)

Sen. Christopher Coons
(Courtesy coons.senate.gov)
 
One of the ways the US federal government subsidizes the fossil fuel industry — natural gas and oil distributors in particular — is through Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs). These special purpose investment vehicles exempt investors who form them from certain corporate income taxes. The catch is that MLPs have to distribute most of their income to partnership shareholders on a quarterly basis.

Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Delaware) believes renewable energy industry participants could benefit greatly if they were allowed to form MLPs, and he, along with Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), on June 7 introduced legislation — The Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act — to make it happen.