"Seven Senate Democrats launched the probe over controversial tax credits to the country’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas."
"Seven Democratic U.S. senators have launched a probe into a $370 million “alternative fuel” payout to Cheniere Energy, made earlier this year by the IRS, that critics say the liquefied natural gas export company never should have received.
An earlier Inside Climate News investigation into the company’s push to get that tax credit for using LNG to power its tankers noted that such fuel is standard in the industry, not an alternative. The incentive is also intended for motor vehicles or motorboats, the latter of which are defined in federal shipping regulations as no more than 65 feet long. LNG vessels are typically 1,000 feet in length.
“We write to clarify whether the Internal Revenue Service has determined that companies using liquefied natural gas (LNG) for propelling LNG tankers qualify for credits under the Alternative Fuel Excise Tax (AFET),” the senators wrote to Scott Bessent, the IRS acting commissioner, on Tuesday. “Providing tankers with AFET credits would unnecessarily waste taxpayer money while doing nothing to protect the environment, reduce costs for everyday Americans, or lessen the United States’ dependence on oil.”
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)—the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee—along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced the probe into the agency’s handling of tax subsidies for LNG exporters."
