“Clearly, the interpretation of what constitutes ‘begin construction’ is important. Yet at no time during the two years since the PTC was extended with this wording did the IRS bother to seek public comment under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the federal statute that requires federal agencies to provide notice and an opportunity to comment before promulgating rules.”
When Congress extended the wind energy production tax credit (PTC) at the beginning of 2013 , it relaxed the terms upon which developers could qualify for the credit by requiring projects “begin construction” by the end of 2013, the expiration date of the PTC. The IRS released guidance a few months later defining what it meant to begin construction.
Similar to the Section 1603 Program, the IRS provided two methods for determining when construction began.…
Continue Reading“In light of adjustments to global temperature data that allowed some reporters to cite 2014 as the warmest year in recorded history, it is fitting reporter Seth Borenstein be nominated for the inaugural Brian Williams Award For Science Reporting.”
On January 16, 2015, Associated Press Science Writer Seth Borenstein published “The heat is on; NOAA, NASA say 2014 warmest year on record.” Within days of this publication information was cited that NASA and NOAA data showed 2014 global temperatures weren’t statistically different from the years 2005 and 2010.
The land surface temperature data used by NOAA and NASA is subject to errors in measurements at temperature stations that were rural 100 years ago and are now in urban areas due to population growth. This is called the Urban Heat Island Effect (UHIE), which results in local temperature increases due to accumulations of concrete and asphalt.…
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