Sen. Chuck Grassley is the author of the original production tax credit for electricity from wind in 1992 and has successfully worked to renew the tax credit ever since.  Late last year, he secured a long-term, five-year extension and phase-out of the tax credit, intended to give the industry certainty for investments and job creation.  Grassley notes that the wind energy industry is the only energy industry that has proposed a phase-out of its tax benefit, unlike many longstanding industries like oil and gas that have permanent tax benefits.  Earlier this year, the Senate passed a bipartisan amendment offered by Grassley and Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon to restore wind energy research funding for fiscal year 2017 to the level provided for the current fiscal year. The measure allocates an additional $15.4 million to wind energy research from within existing research programs at the Department of Energy, so it does not increase overall spending. 

Grassley made the following comment on the new finding that wind power now supplies more than 35 percent of electricity in Iowa.  The state is the first in the country to generate more than one-third of its electricity from wind energy.  Wind energy supports up to 7,000 jobs in Iowa.

“This tax credit is a success story beyond what I could have anticipated in 1992.  It’s contributed to tens of thousands of jobs nationwide and needed investments in rural areas.  It’s helped to develop a green energy source that’s welcome as an alternative to fossil fuels.  Major tech companies have located to Iowa in part because of its wind energy.  The success of the tax credit is in large part due to an industry that’s appreciated it and used it well. The wind energy industry is the only energy industry that’s put forth a plan to sunset its tax benefit.  The industry used the tax credit to get under way and now that it’s a more mature industry, it’s willing to let the tax credit eventually phase out.  Other energy industries that have had tax benefits for much longer haven’t put forth that effort.  Everybody connected to the wind industry deserves credit for the milestone announced today.  They’ve worked hard to make the most of a God-given resource.”

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