Montana Senators Introduce Bill to Make Indian Coal Production Tax Credit Permanent

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Montana Senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines today introduced legislation to permanently extend the Indian Coal Production Tax Credit (ICPTC).

The ICPTC provides a crucial tax incentive to level the playing field for future development of the tribal coal resources that are currently subject to more regulatory requirements than comparable development on private, state or federal lands. The credit protects the economic viability of existing tribal coal mining projects, which support much-needed tribal jobs and provide a major source of non-Federal revenue for coal-producing tribes.

“Reauthorizing the Indian Coal Production Tax Credit will increase self-determination and help the economy in Indian Country,” Tester said. “This is an opportunity to create jobs in Indian Country so that we can help take pressure off social safety net programs that are financially strapped. I look forward to working with folks in Congress and tribal leaders to get this tax credit secured once again.”

“The Indian Coal Production Tax Credit is an essential tool in Montana tribes’ work to achieve self-sufficiency, increase economic opportunity and create good-paying jobs for tribal members,” Daines stated. “A permanent extension provides tribes much-needed certainty to invest in large-scale energy production projects and provides a path forward for the long-term prosperity of our tribal nations.”

Tester and Daines’ legislation has received strong support from tribal leadership.

“The Indian Coal Production Tax Credit is critical to the future and prosperity of the Crow Nation, and I appreciate the Montana delegation’s work to permanently reauthorize it,” Crow Chairman Darrin Old Coyote stated.

The Senate legislation introduced today is also cosponsored by Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.).

The ICPTC was first offered in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and was recently granted a one-year extension, which expired at the end of last year. The tax credit was designed to incentivize investment on Indian lands and the hiring of Indian people.

Last Congress, Tester and Daines both supported legislation to make the Indian Coal Production Tax Credit permanent. Montana Representative Ryan Zinke has introduced a companion bill in the House.

The full text of the Senators’ bill is available here.