Political Quotes

“I wish to confinn that certain language in the Conference Report to the Energy bill, with respect to the Internal Revenue Service stopping the issuance of private letter rulings and other taxpayer-specific guidance regarding the section 29 credit, actually refers to a solid fuel produced from coal and ``coal waste sludge,'' a waste product composed of tar decanter sludge and other byproducts of the coking process. This fuel is commonly referred to as ``steel industry fuel'' because it is a superior feedstock for the production of coke that is used by the domestic steel industry. Steel industry fuel provides significant energy benefits by recapturing the energy content of the coal waste sludge and significant environmental benefits because the Environmental Protection Agency classifies coal waste sludge as a hazardous waste unless it is processed with coal into a solid fuel product. The conference report expresses the conferees' understanding and belief that the Internal Revenue Service should consider issuing such rulings and guidance on an expedited basis to those taxpayers who had pending ruling requests at the time the moratorium was implemented. I would like to confirm the understanding and belief of the conferees that this language in the conference report actually refers to steel industry fuel and the requests for private letter rulings that the producers of steel industry fuel submitted in Fall 2000.”