Wind energy is popular wherever consumers have access to it. It’s so desirable that huge tech firms have located data centers in Iowa, a leader in wind energy, in part to take advantage of a natural, abundant, renewable energy source.
Unfortunately, in Washington, D.C., wind energy’s supporters have to dodge knives from those who don’t want the competition. Just like wind energy producers, the oil, gas, nuclear and coal industries have allies in Congress. Those allies fight over wind energy’s production tax credit and whether to renew it every year or two.
There are ironies to this approach. One, Iowa and just about everywhere else in the country need all kinds of energy. Wind energy has its limitations, just as oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy have theirs. Consumers and businesses need access to multiple energy sources carried by multiple kinds of infrastructure to meet all of the country’s energy needs. Supporting the wind energy tax credit does not exclude support for other kinds of energy. In fact, the opposite is true. We need it all.
The second piece of irony is some of the very industries that oppose wind energy’s production tax credit have benefited from tax breaks for decades longer than wind energy has. The wind energy production tax credit first went on the books in 1992, at my authorship. It’s been renewed and lapsed many times since then. It’s vetted every year or two through the congressional process known as “tax extenders.” Fifty or so tax provisions fall in the extenders category. Meanwhile, generous provisions benefiting the oil, gas and nuclear industries are permanent law. No one vets whether they should be renewed.
My support for wind energy comes from knowing how successful this form of energy has been in Iowa. The state ranks third in the nation in terms of installed wind capacity, providing more than 28 percent of Iowa’s electricity, while supporting more than 6,000 jobs. But wind energy is not an Iowa-only concern. Nationally, the wind energy industry supports more than 73,000 jobs. Support for renewable energy in multiple forms is growing as members of the public find either environmental concerns or national interest reasons to diversify from, say, foreign oil.
The wind energy industry is reasonable about its production tax credit. It doesn’t expect the tax credit to continue forever. It just wants a fair shake at the table in Congress. I agree, and I’m working this year as before to make that happen.