Extension urged for wind energy tax credit

The report that Mark Muro cites has many useful and valuable things to say about long-term energy policy, and the United States certainly needs such a policy to seize a foothold in the new growth industry of wind equipment manufacturing and to keep jobs from being outsourced to other countries.

Still, while we grapple with the difficult process of building a consensus around a new energy policy in a highly partisan political atmosphere, we need to urgently address short-term needs, such as an extension of the federal wind energy production tax credit, to avoid serious harm to a key industry that can contribute to that long-term policy.

ROB GRAMLICH, Senior vice president of public policy American Wind Energy Association, Washington,  www.awea.org