I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4953 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for the 

production of renewable chemicals. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 26, 2012 

Mr. PASCRELL (for himself and Mr. BILBRAY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

a credit for the production of renewable chemicals. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Qualifying Renewable 

5 Chemical Production Tax Credit Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF RENEWABLE 

7 CHEMICALS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub9 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 


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1 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

2 section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 45S. CREDIT FOR PRODUCTION OF RENEWABLE 

4 CHEMICALS. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 46, the 

6 renewable chemicals production credit for any taxable year 

7 is an amount (determined separately for each renewable 

8 chemical produced by the taxpayer) equal to $0.15 per 

9 pound of eligible content of renewable chemical produced 

10 by the taxpayer during the taxable year. 

11 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—The credit determined under sub12 section (a) with respect to any renewable chemical pro13 duced by any taxpayer during any taxable year shall not 

14 exceed the credit amount allocated by the Secretary to the 

15 taxpayer with respect to such chemical for such taxable 

16 year under subsection (e). 

17 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE CONTENT.—For purposes of this sec18 tion— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible content’ 

20 means, with respect to any renewable chemical, the 

21 biobased content percentage of the total mass of or22 ganic carbon in such chemical. 

23 ‘‘(2) BIOBASED CONTENT PERCENTAGE.—The 

24 term ‘biobased content percentage’ means, with re25 spect to any renewable chemical, the biobased conVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:38 May 03, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953

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1 tent of such chemical (expressed as a percentage) 

2 determined by testing representative samples using 

3 the American Society for Testing and Materials 

4 (ASTM) D6866. 

5 ‘‘(d) RENEWABLE CHEMICAL.—For purposes of this 

6 section— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘renewable chem8 ical’ means any chemical which— 

9 ‘‘(A) is produced by the taxpayer in the 

10 United States (or in a territory or possession of 

11 the United States) from renewable biomass, 

12 ‘‘(B) is sold, or used, by the taxpayer— 

13 ‘‘(i) for the production of polymers, 

14 plastics, or formulated products, or 

15 ‘‘(ii) as polymers, plastics, or formu16 lated products, and 

17 ‘‘(C) is not sold or used for the production 

18 of any food, feed, or fuel. 

19 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Such term shall not in20 clude any chemical if— 

21 ‘‘(A) the biobased content percentage of 

22 such chemical is less than 25 percent, 

23 ‘‘(B) 10,000,000 pounds or more of such 

24 chemical was produced during calendar year 

25 2000 from renewable biomass, 


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1 ‘‘(C) such chemical is not either the prod2 uct of, or reliant upon, biological conversion, 

3 thermal conversion, or a combination of biologi4 cal and thermal conversion, of renewable bio5 mass, or 

6 ‘‘(D) such chemical is composed of renew7 able chemicals that are eligible for a credit 

8 under this section. 

9 ‘‘(3) RENEWABLE BIOMASS.—The term ‘renew10 able biomass’ has the meaning given such term in 

11 section 9001(12) of the Farm Security and Rural 

12 Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8101(12)). 

13 ‘‘(e) ALLOCATION OF CREDIT AMOUNTS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

15 after enactment of this section, the Secretary, in 

16 consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall 

17 establish a program to allocate credit amounts under 

18 this section to applicants for taxable years. 

19 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) AGGREGATE LIMITATION.—The total 

21 amount of credits that may be allocated under 

22 such program shall not exceed $500,000,000. 

23 ‘‘(B) TAXPAYER LIMITATION.—The 

24 amount of credits that may be allocated to any 

25 taxpayer for any taxable year under such proVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:38 May 03, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953

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1 gram shall not exceed $25,000,000. For pur2 poses of the preceding sentence, all persons 

3 treated as a single employer under subsection 

4 (a) or (b) of section 52, or subsection (m) or 

5 (o) of section 414, shall be treated as one per6 son. 

7 ‘‘(3) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In determining 

8 which taxpayers to make allocations of credit 

9 amount under this section, the Secretary shall take 

10 into consideration— 

11 ‘‘(A) the number of jobs created and main12 tained (directly and indirectly) in the United 

13 States (including territories and possessions of 

14 the United States) as result of such allocation 

15 during the credit period and thereafter, 

16 ‘‘(B) the degree to which the production of 

17 the renewable chemical demonstrates reduced 

18 dependence on imported feedstocks, petroleum, 

19 non-renewable resources, or other fossil fuels, 

20 ‘‘(C) the technological innovation involved 

21 in the production method of the renewable 

22 chemical, 

23 ‘‘(D) the energy efficiency and reduction in 

24 lifecycle greenhouse gases of the renewable 


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1 chemical or of the production method of the re2 newable chemical, and 

3 ‘‘(E) whether there is a reasonable expec4 tation of commercial viability. 

5 ‘‘(4) REDISTRIBUTION.—If a credit amount al6 located to a taxpayer for a taxable year with respect 

7 to any renewable chemical (determined without re8 gard to this paragraph) exceeds the amount of the 

9 credit with respect to such chemical determined 

10 under this section on the taxpayer’s return for such 

11 taxable year (determined by treating the amount of 

12 any payment under subsection (f) as shown on the 

13 taxpayer’s return)— 

14 ‘‘(A) the credit amount allocated to such 

15 taxpayer for such taxable year with respect to 

16 such renewable chemical shall be treated as 

17 being the amount so determined on the tax18 payer’s return, and 

19 ‘‘(B) such excess may be reallocated by the 

20 Secretary consistent with the requirements of 

21 paragraphs (2)(B) and (3). 

22 ‘‘(5) DISCLOSURE OF ALLOCATIONS.—The Sec23 retary shall, upon making an allocation of credit 

24 amount under this section, publicly disclose the idenVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:38 May 03, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953

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1 tity of the applicant and the amount of the credit 

2 with respect to such applicant. 

3 ‘‘(f) TERMINATION.—Notwithstanding any other pro4 vision of this section, the Secretary may not allocate any 

5 credit amount under this section to any taxable year which 

6 begins more than 5 years after the date of the enactment 

7 of this section.’’. 

8 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

9 CREDIT.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of section 38 

11 of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the 

12 end of paragraph (35), by striking the period at the 

13 end of paragraph (36) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and 

14 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(37) the renewable chemicals production credit 

16 determined under section 45S(a).’’. 

17 (2) CREDIT ALLOWABLE AGAINST ALTERNATIVE

18 MINIMUM TAX.—Subparagraph (B) of section 

19 38(c)(4) of such Code is amended by redesignating 

20 clauses (vii) through (ix) as clauses (viii) through 

21 (x), respectively, and by inserting after clause (vi) 

22 the following new clause: 

23 ‘‘(vii) the credit determined under sec24 tion 45S,’’. 


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1 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

2 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

3 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45S. Credit for production of renewable chemicals.’’. 

5 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

6 this section shall apply to chemicals produced after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, in taxable years ending 

8 after such date. 

Æ 


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