U.S. Senators Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) pressed the U.S. Senate Finance Committee today to swiftly include extensions of the bipartisan and job-creating investment tax credit and production tax credit for wind energy in an upcoming tax-extenders package. Udall and Grassley's letter, cosigned by 24 of their colleagues, cites the thousands of jobs the two tax credits encourage and the role wind energy is playing in producing clean, renewable energy in nearly every state across the nation.
The production tax credit and investment tax credit, which both support on-shore and off-shore wind-energy developments, expired at the end of 2013.
"The American wind industry's growth, its cost competitiveness and its creation of American jobs have been partially driven by successful, bi-partisan federal tax policy, namely the PTC and the ITC," the senators wrote in the letter. "Unfortunately, as you know, these credits expired at the end of 2013. Like all businesses, the wind industry seeks certainty and predictability so that long term project decisions and investments can be made. Without that stability, we once again risk losing many of the jobs, infrastructure and investment that the wind industry has created. Furthermore, we risk weakening our national energy security by failing to foster such an important source of clean, domestic energy."
A bipartisan coalition of 118 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a similar letter today to Speaker of the House John Boehner.
Udall and Grassley have led the bipartisan effort to extend federal wind-energy tax credits. They rallied their colleagues during the previous session of Congress and successfully extended the wind production tax credit after months of speeches and outreach.
To read the letter, click HERE or scroll below:
The Honorable Ron Wyden
Chairman
Committee on Finance
United States Senate
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Orrin Hatch
Ranking Member
Committee on Finance
United States Senate
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Wyden and Ranking Member Hatch:
We are writing on behalf of the 80,000 Americans employed by the U.S. wind industry – representing jobs in all fifty states – to strongly urge that you include an extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) as part of any tax extenders legislation. Wind energy now provides power to over 15 million American homes, as well as to many thousands of farms and businesses. The industry has driven $105 billion of investment in the U.S. economy since 2005, while driving down the cost of wind power by 43 percent in the last four years alone.
The American wind industry's growth, its cost competitiveness and its creation of American jobs have been partially driven by successful, bi-partisan federal tax policy, namely the PTC and the ITC. Unfortunately, as you know, these credits expired at the end of 2013. Like all businesses, the wind industry seeks certainty and predictability so that long term project decisions and investments can be made. Without that stability, we once again risk losing many of the jobs, infrastructure and investment that the wind industry has created. Furthermore, we risk weakening our national energy security by failing to foster such an important source of clean, domestic energy.
We are encouraged by the Senate Finance Committee's interest in taking up tax extenders legislation. We support this effort and ask that such legislation – with inclusion of an extension of the PTC and ITC which expired in December of last year – be considered by the Committee as soon as possible so that it can be taken up by the full Senate without delay. Expeditious action is necessary to avoid further layoffs and divestment. Thank you for taking our views into consideration and do not hesitate to call on us if we can be helpful in making progress on this important effort.
Sincerely,
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