SCHUMER PUSHES FEDS FOR SWIFT IMPLEMENTATION OF INFLATION REDUCTION ACT’S “ADVANCED MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT” PROVISIONS TO BOOST AMERICA-MADE ALUMINUM FROM COMPANIES LIKE ALCOA; SENATOR SAYS UPDATED GUIDANCE CRITICAL TO LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD WITH COMPETITORS OVERSEAS AND BOOSTING ALUMINUM MANUFACTURING HERE IN AMERICA
Schumer Led The Inflation Reduction Act To Passage With NY Manufacturers Like Alcoa In Mind; Now He Is Fighting To Ensure They Can Utilize The Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit To Invest In Industrial Production & Strengthen American Operations
Following Meeting with Alcoa Top Execs Earlier This Year, Schumer Wrote To Treasury Secretary Yellen Requesting Guidance Be Finalized For Aluminum Tax Credit
Schumer: America’s Future For Industry’s Like Aluminum Should Be In The North Country Not Overseas!
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today revealed his push calling on the U.S. Department of Treasury to finalize guidance and swiftly implement on the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit (AMPTC), a critical provision in the Inflation Reduction Act designed to boost primary aluminum production here in America and protect manufacturers, like the North Country’s Alcoa.
Schumer explained that with clear and final guidance, the AMPTC would not only strengthen American supply chains, but also allow aluminum manufacturers like Alcoa to invest in domestic industrial production, strengthen American-based operations, and help level the playing field with competitors overseas.
“I championed including the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit in the Inflation Reduction Act domestic aluminum manufacturers like the North Country’s Alcoa in mind to boost American manufacturing. This vital tax credit has the potential to empower American manufacturers like Alcoa and boost job growth, and advance clean energy innovations throughout New York. Now, I am determined to ensure that companies like Alcoa, boasting the world's longest-operating aluminum smelter right here in NY, can fully leverage the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit to bolster production and create good-paying jobs,” said Senator Schumer. “This will help leveling the playing field with competitors overseas and strengthen our aluminum manufacturing industry right here in America in places like the North Country. That’s why, after meeting with Alcoa Executives, I personally wrote to Treasury Secretary Yellen requesting clear, finalized guidance on the tax credit to ensure our hardworking aluminum producers can access these vital benefits, and I will keep fighting until they see the benefits they deserve.”
“Alcoa appreciates the intent of the Section 45X tax credit for advanced manufacturing and the ongoing work to provide guidance related to aluminum as an eligible critical mineral ,” said Alcoa President and CEO William Oplinger. “The commitments made in the Inflation Reduction Act to re-shoring domestic manufacturing through sound industrial policy will have positive benefits for the production of primary aluminum in the U.S., including at our facility in Massena, NY. This policy can demonstrate the important role that primary aluminum plays in the American economy. We thank Senator Schumer for his leadership on this issue and longtime support of Alcoa’s Massena operations.”
The AMPTC provides a production tax credit for the domestic manufacturing of components for solar and wind energy, inverters, battery components, and critical minerals. The credit applies to both equipment and minerals produced and sold in the United States. In doing so, it notably incentivizes the domestic manufacturing of key energy components, including battery production for electric vehicles, blades for wind turbines, and wafers for solar panels, among other inputs, expected to be used by clean energy organizations and facilities seeking to qualify for other tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act. Schumer said that the AMPTC is a catalyst that will ultimately bolster the domestic supply chain for vital energy components nationwide.
Specifically, Schumer urged the Treasury Department to clearly define aluminum and asked for prompt and clear regulatory guidance on key tax provisions in the IRA so that manufacturers can confidently use the AMPTC.
Schumer said, “The intent of including aluminum in the tax credit was to bring aluminum production home and bolster domestic aluminum smelters, which is why it is imperative that aluminum manufacturers are able to effectively utilize the AMPTC.”
Earlier this year, Schumer met with Alcoa executives to discuss how aluminum is defined under the AMPTC and committed to ensuring that domestic aluminum manufacturers, like Alcoa, can benefit from the AMPTC. Following the meeting, Schumer personally wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Yellen requesting that she provide clear guidance with respect to aluminum so domestic aluminum manufacturers can utilize the AMPTC, reshore aluminum production and bolster the current base of domestic aluminum smelters.
According to Schumer, clarifying that Congress intended for primary aluminum to be included in the AMPTC is critical for American aluminum companies like Alcoa. Specifically, the clarification will strengthen Alcoa’s operations in Massena to help ensure its future in the North Country by boosting American production of primary Aluminum and leveling the playing field with competitors overseas. Schumer has a long history of fighting to protect Alcoa’s Massena facility and the hundreds of good-paying it provides to North Country labor. In 2015, Schumer fought for and successfully preserved jobs and benefits for 487 employees at Alcoa’s Massena facility. In 2016, Schumer urged the U.S. Trade Representative and Department of Commerce to press China on subsidies for aluminum and steel and enforce current trade laws to protect American manufactures like Alcoa. In 2019, Schumer brokered a deal between Alcoa and the New York State Power Authority, safeguarding Alcoa’s future in the region and hundreds of jobs in Massena.
Schumer said that Alcoa’s Massena smelter is both the longest-operating aluminum smelter in the world and the greenest aluminum smelter in the United States thanks to its use of hydropower. As of today, Alcoa produces 130,000 metric tons of capacity at its Massena facility.
A copy of Senator Schumer’s letter to Secretary Yellen appears below:
Dear Secretary Yellen:
I write to express my concerns regarding the prompt implementation and design of guidance for the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit (AMPTC), a critical part of the Inflation Reduction Act that I fought hard to enact last Congress. The AMPTC will strengthen American supply chains and secure U.S. manufacturing jobs like those in my home state of New York.
Timely regulatory guidance on this and other key tax provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act is critical so companies can make confident decisions to invest in industrial production, grow jobs, and advance clean energy innovations here at home.
As you develop guidance the AMPTC, it is vital to provide clear guidance with respect to aluminum, one of the eligible critical minerals. The statute requires that aluminum meet one of two conditions of eligibility: either conversion from bauxite to a minimum purity of 99 percent alumina by mass or be purified to 99.9 percent aluminum by mass.
The intent of the inclusion of aluminum in the AMPTC was to incentivize both the reshoring of alumina production and to bolster the current base of domestic aluminum smelters. As such, domestically produced aluminum should qualify for this credit, provided it is either high purity (99.9 percent pure, on a pre-alloyed basis), or is of commercial grade (99.7 percent pure, on a pre-alloyed basis) and made from alumina measured at a purity of 99 percent prior to smelting. Aluminum produced to a high purity (99.9 percent pure on a pre-alloy basis) from recycled product (i.e., scrap) should also qualify.
I am hopeful that Treasury can, through timely and clear guidance, provide our domestic aluminum manufacturers confidence they can use this credit to strengthen U.S. production. This is of particular importance to New York, as we have the longest-operating aluminum smelter in the world in Massena.
Sincerely,
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