This is getting ridiculous. The details on the tax breaks for Peabody seem to be getting worse and worse.
First, it was the use of severance tax cuts as an incentive, when the severance tax is one of the few ways "to compensate for the environmental, social and economic costs of coal mining." Now, it's cash advances that don't need to be repaid.
The Bridge has the LRC fiscal impact estimate.
permalink | all links |“This bill is not worth anything to any particular company,” said Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville. He said the measure is simply a “framework” for incentive packages that can be negotiated by state economic development officials.
House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, hailed the bill as “a comprehensive energy policy for the future.”
The measure does provide more than $12 million in grants to government agencies conducting energy research and offers tax incentives to companies that produce fuels from renewable resources such as biomass, cellulose and corn.
But the driving force behind the proposal has been Peabody Energy’s insistence that lawmakers pass incentives for coal conversion this summer if the state wants to be considered for the company’s proposed $3 billion plant to convert coal into natural gas.
Previous versions of the proposal, which were considered in this year’s regular legislative session and an aborted special session in July, would have provided Peabody an estimated $300 million in tax breaks over 25 years.
That figure equals $600,000 to $800,000 in incentives for every full-time worker projected to be hired.
The current proposal includes the same types of incentives previously considered, but lawmakers declined to detail how any changes might affect Peabody’s bottom line.
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth has undertaken the Herculean task of fighting the giveaway to Peabody Coal. Send an email to Speaker Richards -- $300 million is just too much for so few jobs.
