AWEA Blog - Mitt Romney Wind Energy Tax Credit Opposition At Odds With Republicans

Mitt Romney would end a tax credit for wind energy producers if he’s elected, his campaign confirmed to the Des Moines Register Monday, setting a clear contrast with President Barack Obama on the issue.

“He will allow the wind credit to expire, end the stimulus boondoggles, and create a level playing field on which all sources of energy can compete on their merits,” Iowa campaign spokesman Shawn McCoy said in a statement to the paper. “Wind energy will thrive wherever it is economically competitive, and wherever private sector competitors with far more experience than the president believe the investment will produce results.”

Support for the wind energy tax credit could be a big issue in Iowa, which has the highest number of wind energy jobs in the country, according to the Register.

The former Massachusetts governor would allow a tax credit for wind energy production companies to expire at the end of the year, Iowa campaign spokesman Shawn McCoy told the Des Moines Register.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is disappointed that the Romney campaign has come out with an anti-wind stance, particularly in Iowa, the state that gets 20% of its power from wind and the state with more major manufacturing facilities than any other. According to a statement to the Des Moines Register newspaper, the presidential candidate supports letting the very popular and bipartisan wind industry Production Tax Credit expire at the end of this year. A recent poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies for AWEA found that “an overwhelming majority of Iowa voters would be less likely to support an anti-wind candidate for office.”

Key findings from the Iowa poll include:

- Iowa voters are less likely to vote for candidates who do not support expanding wind power generation.
- Iowans are supportive of using renewable energy sources like wind energy to meet the growth in America’s energy needs.
- Iowans, particularly Independents, believe wind energy has been good for the state’s economy and has helped to create jobs in the state.

The full poll memo can be found here.

The Hawkeye State currently employs as many as 7,000 people in the wind industry and is a top manufacturing state with more than 200 companies across 50 counties. Unfortunately, with the Production Tax Credit set to expire at the end of this year, as many as 3,000 jobs are immediately at risk.

In response to the announcement by Governor Romney’s staff, Congressman Tom Latham (R-IA) made the following statement:

“I’m disappointed that the statement by Governor Romney’s spokesperson shows a lack of full understanding of how important the wind energy tax credit is for Iowa and our nation. It’s the wrong decision. Wind energy represents one of the most innovative and exciting sectors of Iowa’s economy. Nearly 7,000 hardworking Iowans are employed by over 250 businesses associated with the wind energy industry in our state, making Iowa the top state in wind energy employment. A continuation of the wind energy tax credit is in the best interest of our nation’s all-of-the-above energy policy for American energy independence and for our economy. I invite Governor Romney to step forward and re-evaluate the statement issued by his campaign spokesman.”

Just last week, Steve Thompson, general manager of Availon in Des Moines, told the Des Moines Register, “if Congress will let us finish the job, wind energy can do for America what it has already done for Iowa: create U.S. manufacturing jobs right here at home.”

The PTC provides an income tax credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first 10 years of electricity production from utility-scale turbines. It is set to expire on Dec. 31 unless Congress extends it first. A recent study by Navigant Consulting found that extending the Production Tax Credit will allow the industry to grow to 100,000 jobs in just four years, while an expiration would kill 37,000 jobs within a year.

A House bill seeking to extend the PTC has 109 cosponsors, including 25 Republicans, while a similar Senate bill is cosponsored by seven Senators, including three Republicans. PTC extension efforts have received the endorsement of a broad coalition of more than 370 members, including the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Edison Electric Institute, and the Western Governors’ Association. A PTC extension also has the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Governors Association, and the bipartisan Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition, which includes 23 Republican and Democratic Governors from across the U.S. A PTC extension has been endorsed by a number of newspapers across the country, including the Houston Chronicle, The New York Times, the Denver Post, the Daily Oklahoman, and the Toledo Blade.