AWEA Blog - 118 sportsmen’s and conservation groups urge Congress to extend wind energy tax credits

Congress should extend critical tax incentives that encourage renewable energy production and energy efficiency, 118 sportsmen’s, business and conservation groups from all over the U.S. urged in a letter to Congress yesterday. The letter, with a list of sponsors, also appeared as an ad in Politico.

“Investment and growth in properly-sited, wildlife-friendly clean energy and conservation are the best ways to combat climate change, sustain communities, create American jobs, and promote economic growth across the country,” the groups wrote.

The letter asks Congress to continue the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC), tax incentives that will expire this year if Congress does not reauthorize them. The letter is consistent with a September poll of sportsmen that found 72 percent of hunters and anglers back renewable energy solutions.

“From every corner of the country, hunters and anglers are saying we should not pull the plug on prudent investments in wind power that create jobs and help conserve our natural heritage,” said Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation. “Some 37,000 jobs are at stake. We can’t afford to let this one get away.”

“Climate change is fundamentally altering our environment and putting our outdoor heritage at risk,” the letter argues, and “Sportsmen/women, wildlife advocates, and outdoor enthusiasts are supportive of the development of clean, renewable energy resources as long as it is done in the right places and in a manner that is protective of fish and wildlife habitat.”

A few of the groups signing the letter:
National Wildlife Federation
ConservAmerica
Audubon Minnesota
Audubon Ohio
Central Ohio Anglers & Hunters Club
Colorado Wildlife Federation
Conservation Minnesota
Dakota Rural Action, SD
Florida Wildlife Federation
Great Lakes Federation of Fly Fishers, MI
Iowa Interfaith Power & Light
Izaak Walton League, Minnesota Division
Maine Audubon
Maine Interfaith Power & Light
Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light
Michigan Interfaith Power & Light
Montana Audubon
Nebraska Wildlife Federation
New Hampshire Trout Unlimited Council
North Carolina Wildlife Federation
Ohio Interfaith Power and Light
South Carolina Wildlife Federation
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, TN
Virginia Interfaith Power & Light
Wyoming Wildlife Federation

The PTC is an incentive that reduces taxes on the operators of wind farms and leaves more of the money they earn from electricity sales in private hands, helping to attract private investment not only in wind projects, but in component manufacturers, suppliers, trucking companies and more.  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 119 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

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