The extra credit will likely cover projects in places like coal-heavy Appalachia decimated by mine and plant closures.
"Communities like coal communities have the knowledge, infrastructure, resources and know-how to play a leading role in the move to a clean energy economy," U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.
The bonus credit also is available to other "energy communities" - areas that have significant employment or local tax revenues from fossil fuels and higher than average unemployment.
To qualify for the bonus, a metropolitan statistical area or non-metropolitan statistical area must have or have recently had at least 0.17% direct employment, or at least 25% local tax revenues related to the extraction, processing, transport, or storage of coal, oil, or natural gas, the Treasury Department said.
The community must also have an unemployment rate at or above the national average unemployment rate for the previous year.
The text of the IRA specifies that "brownfield" properties contaminated by hazardous materials or other pollutants, also qualify as energy communities and Treasury is partnering with an interagency group to help identify areas that may be eligible for the bonus tax credit.
The Treasury said it will open project applications for
the first round of coal and energy communities tax credits on
May 31.
The Treasury will also release a searchable mapping tool
that helps identify areas that may be eligible for the energy
community bonus based on the fresh guidance. The bipartisan
infrastructure bill and IRA tend to favor red states, including
those that have been heavy coal producers.
The Department of Energy is also announcing that it is
making $16 million available through the IRA to the University
of North Dakota and West Virginia University to complete design
studies on refineries that will extract and separate rare earth
elements and other critical minerals from coal ash, acid mine
drainage, and other mine waste. Those minerals are crucial to
producing clean energy technologies like batteries and solar
panels.
(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw, Valerie Volcovici and David
Lawder
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
