I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5856 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for an investment 

tax credit for waste-to-energy facilities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 26, 2010 

Mr. DOGGETT (for himself, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and 

Mr. HOLT) 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 

for an investment tax credit for waste-to-energy facilities. 

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 ‘‘Waste-to-Energy Tech5 nology Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INVESTMENT TAX CREDIT FOR WASTE TO ENERGY 

7 FACILITIES. 

8 (a) 30 PERCENT ENERGY PERCENTAGE.—Clause (i) 

9 of section 48(a)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

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1 graph (III) and by inserting after subparagraph (IV) the 

2 following new subparagraph: 

3 ‘‘(E) qualified waste-to-energy property, 

4 and’’. 

5 (b) ENERGY PROPERTY.—Subparagraph (A) of sec6 tion 48(a)(3) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ 

7 at the end of clause (vi), by inserting ‘‘or’’ at the end of 

8 clause (vii), and by inserting after clause (vii) the fol9 lowing new clause: 

10 ‘‘(viii) qualified waste-to-energy prop11 erty,’’. 

12 (c) QUALIFIED WASTE-TO-ENERGY PROPERTY DE13 FINED.—Subsection (c) of section 48 of such Code is 

14 amended by adding at the end the following new para15 graph: 

16 ‘‘(5) QUALIFIED WASTE-TO-ENERGY PROP17 ERTY.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

19 waste-to-energy property’ means property com20 prising a system which— 

21 ‘‘(i) uses municipal solid waste or mu22 nicipal sewage sludge as the feedstock for 

23 producing solid, liquid, or gas fuel, and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) is certified by the Secretary 

2 under subparagraph (D)(iii) as eligible for 

3 a credit under this section. 

4 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Such term does not in5 clude any landfill facility that recirculates leach6 ate, regrades landfill surfaces to encourage run7 off to infiltrate the cells, or delays installation 

8 of covers longer than 18 months following the 

9 cell reaching more than 90 percent of its final 

10 grade. 

11 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—The amount allowed 

12 as a credit for a qualified waste-to-energy prop13 erty shall not exceed the credit allocation to 

14 such project under subparagraph (D)(ii). 

15 ‘‘(D) COMPETITIVE ALLOCATION OF CRED16 IT.— 

17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 

18 180 days after the date of enactment of 

19 this section, the Secretary, in consultation 

20 with the Administrator of the Environ21 mental Protection Agency, shall establish a 

22 qualifying waste-to-energy project program 

23 to consider and award certifications for 

24 qualified investments eligible for credits 


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1 under this section to qualifying waste-to2 energy project sponsors. 

3 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The total amount 

4 of credits that may be allocated under the 

5 program shall not exceed $1,000,000,000. 

6 ‘‘(iii) CERTIFICATION.— 

7 ‘‘(I) APPLICATION PERIOD.—An 

8 application for certification under this 

9 paragraph may only be submitted dur10 ing the 2-year period beginning on the 

11 date the Secretary establishes the pro12 gram under clause (i) and shall con13 tain such information as the Secretary 

14 may require. 

15 ‘‘(II) TIME TO MEET CRITERIA

16 FOR CERTIFICATION.—Each applicant 

17 for certification shall have 1 year from 

18 the date of acceptance by the Sec19 retary of the application during which 

20 to provide to the Secretary evidence 

21 that the requirements of the certifi22 cation have been met. 

23 ‘‘(iv) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In de24 termining which qualifying waste-to-energy 


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1 projects to certify under this section, the 

2 Secretary— 

3 ‘‘(I) shall take into consideration 

4 only those projects where there is a 

5 reasonable expectation of commercial 

6 viability, and 

7 ‘‘(II) shall take into consideration 

8 those projects which— 

9 ‘‘(aa) use the least amount 

10 of post-consumer materials that 

11 could otherwise enter the recy12 cling stream, 

13 ‘‘(bb) will provide the great14 est net impact in avoiding or re15 ducing air pollutants or anthro16 pogenic emissions of greenhouse 

17 gases (including lifecycle leakage 

18 of greenhouse gases), 

19 ‘‘(cc) have the lowest 

20 levelized cost of generated or 

21 stored energy, or of measured re22 duction in energy consumption or 

23 greenhouse gas emission (based 

24 on costs of the full supply chain), 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(dd) pose the fewest risks 

2 (other than climate risks) to en3 vironmental and human health. 

4 ‘‘(v) LIMITATION ON ALLOCATION.— 

5 No credit shall be allocated with respect to 

6 any qualified waste-to-energy property for 

7 which there is no net benefit in cumulative 

8 lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions. 

9 ‘‘(vi) GREENHOUSE GAS LEAKAGE

10 FROM FACILITY.—For purposes of clause 

11 (iv)(II)(bb)— 

12 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The lifecycle 

13 leakage of greenhouse gases is, on a 

14 integrated basis, the leakage rate dur15 ing each phase multiplied by the pro16 portion of lifetime greenhouse gases 

17 that are released by the facility in 

18 that phase, which shall be based upon 

19 field data where that can be accom20 plished. 

21 ‘‘(II) MATTERS INCLUDED.—In22 cluded in the lifecycle analysis shall be 

23 an accounting of the leakage of green24 house gases attendant upon the pro25 duction of bio-based energy from the 


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1 facility. Such leakage shall be deter2 mined over the longer of the entire 

3 lifetime the facility releases green4 house gases into the atmosphere or 

5 the time the facility is capable of 

6 doing so by virtue of the quantity of 

7 any residual carbon remaining after 

8 energy production. Leakage shall be 

9 accounted for during each distinct 

10 phase of the facility’s life, including 

11 the time before the gas collection sys12 tem and the final cover is installed 

13 and the time after funds previously 

14 set aside to maintain the final cover 

15 after the facility is closed are no 

16 longer available. Leakage shall be 

17 counted for the entire time the facility 

18 generates, or is capable of generating, 

19 greenhouse gases. 

20 ‘‘(vii) DEFINITIONS RELATING TO

21 GREENHOUSE GAS LEAKAGE.—For pur22 poses of clause (vi)— 

23 ‘‘(I) LEAKAGE.—The term ‘leak24 age’ means the portion of the total 

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1 position of organic discards disposed 

2 of in the facility that are released into 

3 the atmosphere. 

4 ‘‘(II) FACILITY.—A facility refers 

5 not only to the energy-producing ma6 chinery but also to the entire munic7 ipal solid waste landfill unit. 

8 ‘‘(III) PHASE.—The term ‘phase’ 

9 means one of the time periods when 

10 greenhouse gases are generated at a 

11 facility at distinctly different rates of 

12 generation and rates of gas collection. 

13 For landfill facilities that produce 

14 biogas, the periods are— 

15 ‘‘(aa) the time prior to the 

16 installation of active gas collec17 tion systems, 

18 ‘‘(bb) the time after the in19 stallation of the systems but 

20 prior to installation of the final 

21 cover, 

22 ‘‘(cc) the time after installa23 tion of the final cover but prior 

24 to the time that maintenance of 

25 the cover ends, and 


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1 ‘‘(dd) the time after mainte2 nance of the cover ends. 

3 ‘‘(IV) BIO-BASED ENERGY.—The 

4 term ‘bio-based energy’ means energy 

5 produced from the current decomposi6 tion of plants or animals. 

7 ‘‘(V) INTEGRATED BASIS.—The 

8 term ‘integrated basis’ means first 

9 multiplying the collection efficiency 

10 applicable for each phase of the life of 

11 a landfill facility by the proportion of 

12 the total gas over the landfill’s life 

13 that is generated during that phase, 

14 and then summing the product of the 

15 two for each phase to determine the 

16 integrated collection efficiency that re17 flects the actual lifetime collection ef18 ficiency. 

19 ‘‘(E) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.— 

20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A credit shall not 

21 be allowed under sections 40, 40A, 45, 

22 48B, and 6426 with respect to any fuel 

23 produced at a facility with respect to which 

24 a credit is allowed under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) COORDINATION WITH ARRA

2 GRANT.—A credit shall not be allowed 

3 under this section for any facility if a 

4 grant is made under section 1603 of the 

5 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 

6 with respect to such facility.’’. 

7 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsection (e) of 

8 section 45 of such Code is amended by adding at the end 

9 the following new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(12) COORDINATION WITH ENERGY CREDIT

11 FOR QUALIFIED WASTE-TO-ENERGY PROPERTY.— 

12 The term ‘qualified facility’ shall not include any fa13 cility which produces electricity from solid, gas, or 

14 liquid fuel produced by qualified waste-to-energy 

15 property (as defined in section 48(c)(5)) if a credit 

16 is determined under section 48 with respect to such 

17 property for the taxable year or any prior taxable 

18 year.’’. 

19 (e) REPORT.—After the Secretary of the Treasury, 

20 in consultation with the Administrator of the Environ21 mental Protection Agency, has made all of the credit allo22 cation under section 48(c)(5) of the Internal Revenue 

23 Code of 1986 (as added by subsection (a)), the Secretary, 

24 in consultation with the Administrator, shall submit to 

25 Congress a report on the recipients of the energy credit 


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1 for qualified waste-to-energy property under section 48 of 

2 such Code and the effectiveness of the selection criteria 

3 under section 48(c)(5)(D)(iv) of such Code in selecting 

4 waste-to-energy projects these projects. The report shall 

5 also include recommendations (if any) for continuing the 

6 waste-to-energy credit under section 48(c) of such Code 

7 and, if so, at what dollar amount. The Secretary shall, 

8 upon making a certification of such credit under section 

9 48(c)(5)(D)(iii) of such Code, publicly disclose the identity 

10 of the applicant and the amount of the credit with respect 

11 to such applicant. 

12 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

13 this section shall apply to facilities placed in service in pe14 riods after the date of the enactment of this Act, in tax15 able years ending after such date, under rules similar to 

16 the rules of section 48(m) of the Internal Revenue Code 

17 of 1986 (as in effect on the day before the date of the 

18 enactment of the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1990). 

Æ 


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