Pilar Thomas Shares Insight on How Inflation Reduction Act Could Affect Tribal Renewable Energy Projects in Tribal Business News Article
Pilar Thomas, a Quarles & Brady Energy, Infrastructure & Environment partner in the firm’s Tucson office, is featured in a Tribal Business News article about how the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act could impact tribal renewable energy projects.
Thomas explained that the new legislation potentially creates an alternative to time consuming and often slow-moving federal grant program for tribes looking for funding for renewable energy projects. An excerpt from the article:
Pilar Thomas, a Tucson, Ariz.-based partner in the Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Practice Group at law firm Quarles & Brady LLP, said the rule changes gave tribes some lateral movement around often onerous grant programs.
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“The grant programs might still be worthwhile, if you want to apply for that grant, and go through the 150-page application, and wait to get that money,” Thomas said. “Now that’s not the only option, however.”
Under the new rule, a tribe might earn a 30 percent tax credit on expenses related to a $100 million, utility-scale solar installation, plus bonus credits for building on tribal land and other conditions, Thomas said. That tribe could apply for a tax credit that would ultimately result in “a check from the U.S. Treasury for anywhere between $30 million and $50 million,” she noted.
“It’s about ease of access to federal money through these tax credits,” Thomas said. “That’s the key game-changer for tribes.”