❄
❄
❄
TAX DEAL BENEFITS R&D ECONOMY: Bipartisan measure
will boost investments and create jobs, industry says
HE SENATE LAST WEEK easily passed President Barack Obama’s compromise tax deal with congressional Republicans, reviving an expired credit for R&D activities conducted in the U.S. and extending for another year key incentives for the renewable energy and ethanol industries. The $858 billion package (H.R. 4853), which was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate on Dec. 15 by a vote of 81 to 19, was being debated in the House of Representatives at C&EN’s press time. Democratic leaders said they expected the bill to ultimately pass and become law. “Making sure that middle-class taxes don’t go up is absolutely essential if we want to continue to expand and grow the economy and create jobs,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters during a midweek Capitol Hill briefing. The wide-ranging package includes a number of items that business lobbyists have pushed for, such as a retroactive two-year extension of the 20% tax credit for R&D expenditures, which lapsed at the end of 2009. Renewing the credit “permits our members, small and medium-size batch chemical companies, to plan for R&D investments more efficiently,” says Lawrence D. Sloan, president of the Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates, an industry trade association.
T
❄
C&EN will not publish an issue on Dec. 27, 2010. Our next issue will be Jan. 3, 2011. C&EN staff members wish all of our readers a happy holiday season.
❄ BILL CLARK/ROLL CALL/NEWSCOM
❄❄
“By being able to take advantage of the tax credit, companies are more willing to invest in this area, which furthers their global competitiveness and helps retain and create new jobs, a particularly important issue in today’s economy,” Sloan says. The measure also extends for one year a grant program created by the 2009 stimulus bill for wind, solar, geothermal, and other renewable power developers. They would receive grants worth 30% of the cost of an energy project. Hydropower and some biomass projects would receive half that amount. In addition, ethanol tax credits would be extended through 2011 at the current 45-centsper-gal level, as would the 54-cents-per-gal tariff on imported ethanol and the 22.67-centsper-gal tariff on ethyl tert-butyl ether. Biodiesel and renewable diesel would continue to receive a $1.00-per-gal production tax credit. The legislation also includes several energy efficiency tax credits ranging from home energy efficiency projects to a tax credit for manufacturers of energy-efficient appliances. Business groups also support the measure because it would extend for two years all of the Bush-era income tax rate cuts that are scheduled to expire on Jan. 1, 2011. More than 70% of U.S. manufacturers pay taxes at the individual rate. “This bill will go a long way toward restoring the certainty that employers have been seeking in order to expand and put more Americans back to work,” says R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.—GLENN HESS
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), shown returning to the Senate floor for the final tax deal vote, warned House members not to modify the Senatepassed bill.
AND JEFF JOHNSON
Balmy weather greeted the 12,168 registrants of the 6th International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies, or Pacifichem 2010, which kicked off in Honolulu on Dec. 15. Traditional Hawaiian chants and dances heralded the congress’s formal opening. “I hope you enjoy the science and take the opportunity to network with people from around the world,” said Howard Alper, chair of Pacifichem 2010 and professor of chemistry at the University of Ottawa, in his welcoming remarks. The congress’s theme, “Chemistry, Technology, and Our Global Environment,” will be played out during five
MAUREE N ROUHI /C&EN
INTERNATIONAL MEETING Chemists gather in Honolulu for Pacifichem 2010
days in more than 230 symposia comprising 6,923 oral and 5,921 poster presentations, altogether representing contributions from 69
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
7
Pacifichem 2010’s opening ceremony featured traditional Hawaiian dances.
DECEMBER 20, 2010
countries. Among the 13 scientific areas around which symposia were organized, organic chemistry attracted the most abstracts (2,340), followed by inorganic chemistry (1,654) and materials and nanotechnology (1,652). One of Pacifichem 2010’s special events, a celebration of the International Year of Chemistry in 2011, had yet to occur when C&EN went to press. “Pacifichem 2010 offers an opportunity for all countries on the Pacific Rim to kick off and celebrate IYC 2011 together,” commented ACS President-Elect Nancy B. Jackson, whose ACS presidency coincides with IYC 2011.—MAUREEN ROUHI
