11 Governors Ask Congress to Extend Wind PTC

Photo credit: Fresh Energy

Photo credit: Fresh Energy
Photo credit: Fresh Energy

A bipartisan group of governors is pushing for a multi-year extension of the soon-to-expire production tax credit (PTC) to provide more certainty to the wind industry.

The governors of Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Washington each signed a letter and sent it to the majority and minority leaders of Congress this week. The members of the Governors Wind Energy Coalition centered their argument around an estimated 5,000-plus layoffs that took place within the industry last year because of the impending expiration of the PTC.

The credit expired Dec. 31, 2012, but Congress temporarily extended it two days later. Still, just 1.6 megawatts of wind system installations took place during the first half of this year in the entire country.

Here is the letter addressed to U.S. Senate majority leader Harry Reid, John Boehner, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and U.S. House of Representatives minority leader Nancy Pelosi:

Almost a year ago, many of our citizens who work in the wind industry were subjected to an unnecessary series of layoffs and hardships because Congress failed to extend the wind energy production tax credit in a responsible and timely manner.

Across the nation—from Oregon to Vermont—thousands of Americans working in one of the nation’s most important growth energy industries lost their jobs. We were witness to the hardships that over 5,000 Americans had to endure when they lost their jobs because of the anticipated expiration of the tax credit.

After Congress passed the tax credit extension in January, the nation’s wind industry began a very troubled recovery. The clearest example is the loss of investments. In 2012, the wind industry invested nearly $25 billion. In the first six months of 2013, the wind industry installed just one turbine—a 99 percent drop in investments. This Congressionally sanctioned uncertainty has hit the nation’s wind industry incredibly hard.

The current wind energy production tax credit is due to expire on December 31, 2013. We respectfully urge you not to repeat the legislative brinksmanship of 2012 and to adopt a responsible multi-year extension of the production tax credit so that the wind industry and related industries can plan for a smooth transition to the expiration of the tax credit.

Our nation has some of the best wind resources in the world, but the lack of stable policy hinders the nation’s ability to develop them fully. The nation’s wind industry developers do not need this tax credit forever, but they do need policy certainty in the near term to bring their costs to a fully competitive level. Please support our states in the pursuit of economic strength, energy diversity, and consumer savings, by acting quickly to adopt a responsible multi-year extension, even if it reduces in value over time, of the production tax credit.

The letter was signed by:

John Kitzhaber, Oregon

Dennis Daugaard, South Dakota

Terry E. Branstad,  Iowa

Lincoln D. Chafee, Rhode Island

Jay Insleee, Washington

Steve Bullock, Montana

Martin O’Malley, Maryland

Pat Quinn, Illinois

Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii

Mark Dayton, Minnesota

Sam Brownback, Kansas

In addition to congressional leaders, the letter was also sent to:

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee members

Senate Finance Committee members

House Ways and Means Committee members

Ernie Moniz, Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

Sally Jewell, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior

Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change

Visit EcoWatch’s RENEWABLES page for more related news on this topic.

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[source: http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/08/11-governors-ask-congress-to-extend-wind-ptc/]


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