Wind Energy

Wind power: PTC extension ‘important to nation, Colorado’

Said Ms. Caldwell, "In Colorado, both U.S. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet support the extension. We have editorialized in favor of it. The credit provides important support for a new industry and the jobs it has created, and the credit is crucial to the country’s efforts to diversify its energy base. The boom and bust cycle that characterizes federal support for the wind turbines industry is detrimental to long-term planning and investment.

"With gas prices on the rise, it’s more important than ever to continue to explore other ways of meeting this nation’s energy needs. It would be good for the country — and Colorado — if members of Congress saw it that way."

In early February, seven members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation, from both political parties, signed a letter to Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, calling for a PTC extension. Those signing included Sens. Udall (D) and Bennet (D) and Representatives Diana DeGette (D), Cory Gardner (R), Ed Perlmutter (D), Jared Polis (D), and Scott Tipton (R).

A House bill seeking to extend the PTC has 90 cosponsors, including 20 Republicans, and has received the endorsement of a broad coalition of more than 370 members, including the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Edison Electric Institute, and the Western Governors’ Association, while a Senate bill to extend it was introduced March 15 by seven Senators, including three Republicans.

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 in addition to the Denver Post, including the Houston Chronicle, The New York Times, and the Daily Oklahoman.

Tom Gray, www.awea.org/blog