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Grassley: Wind energy empowers America

From Senator Charles Grassley –

Senator Charles Grassley
Senator Charles Grassley

WASHINGTON – Momentum is building to extend expired tax provisions that lapsed Dec. 31.  Of the 55 expired tax breaks on the table, wind energy incentives are among those left hanging.  I’ve been working to build bipartisan, bicameral and regional alliances to secure a victory for America’s 21st century clean energy policy.  So far, 144 lawmakers are standing together to support wind energy in the tax extenders package.

We’re pressing leaders in the House and Senate to prioritize extensions of the job-creating investment and production tax credits for wind energy.  This federal tax policy has helped to launch a carbon-free energy source and diversify America’s portfolio of homegrown, alternative sources of energy.  The tax credits have helped to support 85,000 U.S. jobs; trigger $105 billion in private sector investment; reduce the carbon footprint by displacing carbon-emitting energy with clean generation wind energy; and harness an inexhaustible source of affordable, domestic electricity for consumers.

Opponents of wind energy tax incentives argue the industry doesn’t need any government support, yet there are plenty of tax policies for various industries that have been on the books for decades longer than those for wind.  If one measure is on the table for potential removal, all of them should be on the table.  Everything deserves consideration on its merits, and wind energy stands up to scrutiny.

Technology, tax incentives and private investment work to strengthen the renewable energy sector’s position in the free marketplace and power America’s carbon-free energy policies forward.   Over the past few decades, wind energy in the United States has changed the economic and energy landscape with nearly 900 utility-scale wind projects on the nation’s electricity grid and more than 550 wind-related manufacturing facilities.

Wind farms and/or factories have cropped up in all 50 states, putting people to work in good-paying jobs, diversifying farm and ranch income with an organic, drought- and weed-resistant cash crop, revitalizing rural communities and creating pollution-free electricity for millions of homes and businesses across the country.  Iowa leads the nation in wind-generated electricity, at 27.4 percent, powering the equivalent of 1.3 million homes.

It doesn’t make sense to pull the plug on wind energy tax incentives that foster responsible environmental stewardship, encourage entrepreneurs to innovate clean-energy technologies and investors to finance the job-creating infrastructure that delivers clean electricity to America’s homes and businesses.

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