Nuclear industry opposes GOP debt ceiling plan to repeal zero-emission credit

The US nuclear energy industry is opposing a House of Representatives bill that would raise the debt ceiling in exchange for advancing a number of GOP priorities and implementing cuts to a range of clean energy credit programs, including the zero-emission nuclear power production credit.

"The debt ceiling plan released in the House this week includes provisions that would undermine efforts to develop the clean, reliable and affordable energy system of the future," Nuclear Energy Institute CEO Maria Korsnick said in a statement April 21.

"The proposed repeal of federal clean energy incentives included in the Inflation Reduction Act will not only jeopardize programs and projects underway across the country but will undercut U.S. global leadership in innovative new technologies that will help achieve climate and energy security goals," Korsnick said.

"We look forward to working with Republicans and Democrats on policy to strengthen American energy security and streamline permitting processes while addressing the climate crisis," she said.

Introduced April 19 by Republicans in the House of Representatives, the bill, the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, would return discretionary government spending to fiscal-year 2022 levels and then limit spending growth to an annual rate of 1%.

Created by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the zero-emission nuclear power production credit provides up to $15 per megawatt-hour for the electricity produced by the plants assuming that labor and wage requirements are met, according to the US Department of Energy. The credit is available for facilities in service in 2024 and would last through 2032, keeping existing reactors competitive with other power generators, the DOE has said.

"These are the same levels we had just four months ago," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Republican-California, said on the House floor April 19. "I didn't hear a single Democrat complain about that level of spending."

Republicans' new proposal would also modify existing credits for renewable energy resources and carbon capture and sequestration, as well as shrink a federal tax credit for electric vehicle purchases. It would also cancel several IRA incentives, including credits for clean hydrogen, and repeal technology-neutral clean electricity credits that are set to take effect in 2025.

The bill "would end the green giveaways for companies that distort the market and waste taxpayer money," McCarthy said. The IRA climate incentives have been a target of Republican lawmakers, who have said the credits will cost taxpayers far more than initially estimated.

The GOP proposal also includes parts of a bill to streamline federal permitting of energy and other infrastructure projects. The permitting bill, which the Republican-majority House passed along party lines at the end of March, was also expected to encounter resistance in the Senate. Democrats have said it did too much to facilitate fossil fuel infrastructure and not enough to encourage the construction of long-distance transmission lines.

Under the Republican proposal the DOE, in consultation with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will conduct a study on "how to streamline regulatory timelines relating to developing new power plants by examining practices relating to various power generating sources, including fossil and nuclear generating sources."

Democrats blasted the GOP debt ceiling legislation.

"This plan is a nonstarter," said Representative Frank Pallone Jr., a New Jersey Democrat and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "Democrats won't allow Republicans to raise energy costs or strip Americans of their right to a clean future."