S&P Global covered aspects of the coronavirus aid bill Congress passed related to energy, noting AEE recommendations. Read excerpts below and the entire S&P Global piece here. 

The U.S. Senate's final version of the coronavirus response bill contained few direct energy provisions but numerous items that could benefit the industry and its employees. Among them, the updated bill includes worker protection provisions and a $500 billion lending facility that could assist energy companies. On March 25, after several days of negotiations, the Senate passed a $2 trillion bill, the nation's third response to the coronavirus outbreak. The House will consider the proposed legislation on March 27.

House Democrats introduced a related bill on March 23 that included several environmental provisions, including mandated climate change disclosures and emissions reduction requirements for airlines receiving federal funding, as well as funding for sustainable aviation fuel research and development. The Senate did not include many of those items in its version. The passed bill also did not include the $3 billion to purchase domestic oil to fill the nation's reserves that was included in a previous version of the Senate bill. If passed, the latest version would delay a $450 million modernization sale for the reserves from fiscal 2020 to as late as fiscal 2022, the independent research firm ClearView Energy Partners LLC wrote in a March 26 report...

The trade association representing the advanced energy industry called for federal leadership to provide clarity to the business community struggling with state-by-state emergency declarations and their respective requirements. In a March 26 open letter to Congress and the Trump administration, the Advanced Energy Economy trade group said the federal government needs to address construction delays that put projects relying on federal tax credits at risk and extend the construction deadlines to qualify for those credits.

"As this crisis devastates the economy, the Trump Administration and Congress must take steps to preserve advanced energy businesses and the millions of American jobs they provide, just as they have done for many other impacted industries," the group stated...

Read the entire S&P Global piece here.