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Federal Economic Package Contains Supporting Environmental and Energy Provisions

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, signed by President Bush on October 3 to stimulate the economy, contains several provisions extending (or expanding) tax relief in both the environmental and energy areas. In particular, H.R. 1424 extended through 2009 the allowance for expensing certain "qualified environmental remediation expenditures" that were set to expire for costs incurred after December 31, 2007 (see Section 198 of the Internal Revenue Code). To provide further support for renewable energy and energy conservation, H.R. 1424 also extended several of the current tax incentives relating to qualified wind sources (2009), electricity production through biomass and other renewable sources (2011) and solar energy (2016). Taken as a whole, these provisions of the federal "bailout" legislation may provide further impetus for continuing to address site remediation issues and to press forward toward the national goal of energy independence.