By Howard Gleckman, Forbes.

A group of 28 Senate Democrats has proposed a major new energy bill that includes what they call significant reforms in the dozens of tax breaks aimed at encouraging the production and use of clean energy.

I’ll let real energy policy experts speak to the broader bill, but the tax provisions are worthy of note. Some are ideological—for instance, the bill would repeal tax incentives for major integrated oil companies. Others take a modest step in the direction of sensible tax policy, but don’t go nearly far enough.

To put it another way: Let’s say you agree that encouraging clean energy is an important policy goal. And you also agree that tax policy is a useful lever to accomplish this aim. Is this the way you’d do it?