AWEA Blog - Wind energy: Extend PTC, wind farms ‘have created economic boom’

The Olympia (Wash.) Olympian newspaper yesterday became the latest of dozens across the country to endorse an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), pointing to the enormous economic benefits wind power has brought: “Wind farms have created an economic boom for Eastern Washington, along the Columbia River and parts of northern Oregon. They are creating thousands of jobs, and in some cases providing income for farmers, ranchers and other landowners in rural communities in danger of losing their property during the recession.”

Added the Olympian editorial, ” … [I]t is too soon to eliminate federal support for a clean source of energy that creates jobs and may one day contribute an even greater percentage of the nation’s power requirement. Pulling funds now could cripple the industry and quash all of its recent gains. Today’s wind entrepreneurs are trying to build a new industry and create private-sector jobs.”

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 wind 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 110 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, 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 Des Moines Register, the Denver Post, the Daily Oklahoman, the Toledo Blade, the Houston Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chicago Sun-Times, and The New York Times. Further endorsements of the wind energy production tax credit.

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