INDUSTRY RIPS STATE PLAN TO TAX POWER PLANT EMISSION CREDITS

Energy companies and other industry organizations are exhorting state officials to reject a plan to tax pollution emission reduction credits (ERCs) tied to power plants, saying they do not represent a property value component and if assessed could further discourage economic and industrial growth. However, the state tax board's legal counsel and some local government officials argue ERCs are clearly part of an energy facility's property value, and say refusing to tax ERCs in this fashion unfairly advantages polluting facilities...