Congress has a great opportunity to amend the tax code in a way which will benefit the environment, promote American jobs, and foster diversity in our energy sources. It can achieve these results by enacting the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act.

Since the early 1980’s, oil and gas producers have been permitted to use Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), a favorable tax structure taxing corporations as partnerships to raise over $400 billion in new capital.  Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, have not been able to utilize MLPs.

This legal disparity makes no sense.  It flies in the face of our need to maintain strong renewable energy sources, even as we now have new supplies of oil and natural gas.

The MLP Parity Act of the Senator Coons and Representative Poe, has been endorsed by public policy groups from the Center for American Progress to the Heritage Foundation and by a large number of business groups, from AWEA and SEIA to API.  This statute could unlock significant private sector investment funding.  Members of Congress should be encouraged to enact this valuable legislation.