Earlier this month, more than a dozen U.S. Senators led a call for the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to maximize access to alternative fuel vehicle refueling tax credits.
Part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the 30C Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit provides billions for eligible refueling infrastructure investments like zero-emission truck stops, intermodal facilities and warehouses.
U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), and 13 of their colleagues wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel to adopt temporary safe harbor conditions in their guidance to taxpayers who have already installed infrastructure, in order to minimize the negative impacts on future planning decisions and investments.
“Effective implementation of Section 30C is critical to realizing the Administration’s goal of deploying 500,000 chargers by 2030 and facilitating the swift decarbonization of our transportation sector,” the Senators wrote.
The recommendations in the letter would expand eligibility an estimated 32 million more people, include 4.7 million rural residents, 2.1 million people living in poverty, 2.2. million Black people and 3.6 million Latinos.
“As you know, to qualify under Section 30C, the IRA requires properties to be placed in service in an ‘eligible census tract,’ which excludes ‘urban areas’ as designated by the Secretary of Commerce,” the letter said. “We urge you to define eligible census tracts in the most inclusive manner possible. Specifically, we advocate for making eligible any and all census tracts in which no less than 10 percent of census blocks are classified as rural, consistent with the recommendations endorsed by a coalition of more than 30 environmental, industry, consumer, and labor stakeholders in June. The interpretation will incentivize significant additional public and private sector investments in zero-emission truck stops, intermodal facilities, warehouses, and other foundational locations, as Congress intended.”
The letter was also signed by U.S. Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Peter Welch (D-VT).