President Clinton’s FY 2001 Budget includes $976 million in tax incentives over 5 years and $2.1 billion over ten years to accelerate the development and use of bio-based technologies, which convert crops, trees, and other “biomass” into a vast array of fuels and products. These tax credits support the President’s August 1999 Executive Order 13134 and Memorandum on Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy, aimed at tripling U.S. use of biobased products and bioenergy by 2010. This initiative will increase the viability of alternative energy sources, help meet environmental challenges like global warming, support farm incomes, and diversify and strengthen the rural economy.

Cleaner Energy, Cleaner Environment. Bioenergy and bioproducts can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Since crops absorb carbon during growth, their use for energy and other applications results in near zero net carbon release. Tripling our use of bioenergy and bioproducts by 2010 will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by up to 100 million tons -- the equivalent of taking over 70 million cars off the road.

New Economic Opportunities for a New Century. The goal of these tax incentives is to take advantage of advances in farm, forestry, and other biological sciences that are making biomass a viable competitor to fossil fuels as an energy source. These advances are fueling a revolution in the use of biomass to make low polluting electricity by burning willows and switchgrass along with coal in existing plants and by converting paper industry by-products into fuel gases. By creating high-tech jobs and new economic opportunities, meeting the President’s goal of tripling U.S. use of bioenergy and bioproducts could add $15 billion to $20 billion in new income for farmers and many rural communities.

Tax credits for electricity produced from biomass. This package of credits would:

• Extend current "closed-loop" biomass credit. This proposal, which includes plants and trees specifically grown for use as biomass, extends for 2.5 years the current 1.5 cent per kilowatt hour tax credit (adjusted for inflation after 1992), which covers facilities placed in service before January 1, 2002.
• Provide credits for "open loop" biomass facilities. This proposal expands the definition of biomass eligible for the 1.5 cent tax credit to include certain forest-related resources and agricultural and other sources for facilities placed in service from 2001 through 2005, and provides a 1.0 cent credit for electricity produced from 2001 through 2003 from facilities placed in service prior to July 1, 1999.
• Provide a credit for cofiring biomass and coal. This proposal adds a 0.5 cent per kilowatt hour tax credit for electricity produced by cofiring biomass in coal plants from 2001 through 2005.
• Provide credit for methane from landfills. This proposal adds a 1.5 cent per kilowatt hour credit for electricity produced from landfills not subject to EPA’s 1996 New Source Performance Standards/Emissions Guidelines (NSPS/EG) and 1.0 cent per kilowatt hour for landfills subject to NSPS/EG. Qualified facilities would be facilities placed in service after December 31, 2000 and before January 1, 2006.

What's New - January 2000

African American History Month

Protecting America’s Natural and Historic Treasures

Remarks by Samuel Berger to the National Press Club

The Lowest Unemployment Rate in 30 Years

President Clinton Announces Bioenergy & Bioproducts Tax Incentives January 27, 2000

President Clinton Proposes to Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit

Unprecedented National Effort to Improve Our Nation’s Schools by Dramatically Increasing Accountability and Investment

FY2001 New Opportunity Agenda

FY2001 Budget & New Opportunity Agenda

President Clinton Unveils First Accounts

Major New Increase in Funding to Determine Environmental Causes of Disease

New Public-Private Partnerships to Increase Aviation Safety

President Clinton Unveils Largest Ever National Gun Enforcement Initiative

New Multimillion Dollar Increase to Combat HIV and AIDS

The President Triples His Long-Term Care Tax Credit

Major New Health Insurance Initiative

A New Opportunity Agenda for Higher Education: Making Critical Investments in Education and Training

College Opportunity Tax Cut: Providing Tax Incentives to Make Higher Education More Affordable

Nearly a $3 Billion Increase in 21st Century Research Fund

Promoting Bioenergy and Biobased Products

Information Technology For the 21st Century

Remarks by the President at Event Commemorating End of Ramadan

Remarks by the President At America’s Millennium Gala - The Lincoln Memorial

Clinton-Gore Administration Proposes Record

National Nanotechnology Initiative: Leading to the Next Industrial Revolution

Getting the Job Done for the American People in 2000

Proclamation: Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2000

President Clinton Announces New Equal Pay Initiative

Largest Ever National Gun Enforcement Initiative, January 18, 2000

New Responsible Fatherhood Initiative to Promote Work and Boost Child Support Payments

2001 Budget Will Pay Down Debt by 2013

President Clinton Proposes State Licenses for Handgun Purchases

The Clinton-Gore Economic Record: Strong and Sustained Economic Growth

Revitalizing America’s Cities

President Clinton Unveils Millennium Initiative to Promote Delivery of Existing Vaccines in Developing Countries and Accelerate Development of New Vaccines

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