U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) have introduced the Renewable Natural Gas Incentive Act, bipartisan legislation to provide a tax credit for heavy-duty vehicles that use renewable natural gas.
Despite its ultra-low emissions and ability to deliver economic growth as a scalable alternative energy source, renewable natural gas received a lower tax credit than similar transportation fuels, the senators said in a news release.. The Renewable Natural Gas Incentive Act would create a $1.00 per gallon tax credit for sellers of renewable natural gas used for transportation.
Full text of the bill is available here.
“I am proud to introduce this legislation that will accelerate investment in clean vehicles and help lower emissions from the transportation sector,” said Sen. Warner. “This tax credit will help incentivize the use of clean, reliable, and affordable fuel sources and continue to aid the transition to a clean economy while creating good-paying jobs and reducing our reliance on foreign energy.”
“Renewable natural gas is a clean, affordable, and reliable fuel source that provide sustainable transportation for fuel industries across the country,” said Sen. Tillis. “This bill incentivizes the use of clean energy while promoting economic growth through lowering the cost of doing business and decreasing reliance on foreign energy. I am proud to introduce this commonsense legislation which will safeguard America’s energy independence.”
A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. House earlier in the session by Representatives Linda Sanchez (D) from California and Brian Fitzpatrick (R) from Pennsylvania.
Andrew J. Littlefair, CEO and president of Clean Energy Fuels Corp., the country’s largest provider of RNG, issued a statement in support of the legislation:
“At a time when other alternative fuels are having difficulty finding their footing in the heavy-duty vehicle market, RNG is being accepted more and more by fleets that want to reduce their carbon emissions. A robust RNG fueling infrastructure has been built across the country with more stations being added regularly. And a new larger engine that operates on RNG manufactured by Cummins is hitting the market this summer so, the time is ripe for Congress to give a boost to the use of this remarkable fuel.”
