Governor Brown's Statement on the Business Energy Tax Credit Program
Governor Brown released the following statement regarding the Business Energy Tax Credit program:
"The Secretary of State’s Audits Division letter to the Oregon Department of Energy, http://sos.oregon.gov/audits/Documents/330-2015-09-01.pdf, outlines what has increasingly become clear, the Business Energy Tax Credit program, while developed with the best interests of the state in mind, was not managed to the standard that Oregonians demand and deserve.
"The Audits Division’s independent review, prompted by an anonymous call to the Government Waste Hotline, http://sos.oregon.gov/audits/Pages/fraud.aspx, uncovered specific concerns about energy tax credit transfers and discounts. These concerns illustrate the much wider context of the complicated and unclear set of laws, regulations, and practices that now make up the BETC program after repeated revisions by the Legislature over the years.
"The BETC program received a high number of tax credit applications from 2007 to 2012. The program was closed in June 2014, but Oregon is still grappling with its legacy. The Oregon Department of Energy’s ability to advance its broader sustainability mission is hindered by the continued administration of and fallout from past BETC program decisions.
"We take the concerns raised in the hotline call seriously. As the Audits Division recommends, the Oregon Department of Energy will begin working immediately with the Legislature to further clarify its intent for how we implement existing energy tax credits so the department can ensure administrative rules and practices reflect those intentions, improve tax credit tracking, and clearly and consistently communicate the rules to the public.
"These measures are a beginning, but address only some of the issues. The department is taking deliberate steps to acknowledge and learn from the BETC program’s flaws—as well as successes—and there is more to be done. My administration will engage with the Legislature to develop a process and devote the resources needed to finally finish the work to put the BETC program behind us so we can focus on other important energy and climate change policies in the future. This must be done in a manner that meets Oregon’s existing legal obligations and maintains certainty for businesses, government agencies, and others who are pursuing important energy infrastructure projects spurred by the BETC, while protecting the state from excessive liability or fraud."
READ: Oregon Department of Energy's response to the Secretary of State's Audit Division: http://sos.oregon.gov/audits/Documents/330-2015-09-01%20response.pdf.
