Fiscal cliff could doom tax incentives
Delaware U.S. Sen. Tom Carper is taking note of a report calling for renewal for the wind energy tax credit at a time when the “fiscal cliff” talks could lead to their demise.
Environment America released a new Environment America Research & Policy Center report this week showing how current power generation from wind energy prevents as much global warming pollution as taking 13 million cars off the road each year.
A release from Carper’s office noted that U.S. Senators championing wind energy and the wind tax extensions expressed their support.
“Extending the wind Production Tax Credit is one of the most straightforward ways we can support clean, Made-in-America energy and American manufacturing jobs. We need the PTC to help create more good-paying jobs here at home, including jobs for our veterans who are transitioning from the military into the civilian workforce,” U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) said. “The wind PTC is also a common-sense way to support clean energy and to reduce our carbon emissions. It is critical that Congress extend the PTC ASAP and support clean, renewable wind energy.”
“Environment America’s report underscores the positive impacts offshore wind can have on our environment, our economy and our energy security,” said Carper. “If we want to tap this domestic source of energy off our shores, we must foster investment in this nascent industry. The best way to foster offshore wind investment is by extending the investment tax credit for offshore wind beyond 2012. I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on an extension of the investment tax credit and other policies that support the development of offshore wind in this country.”
In addition to preventing dangerous pollution from fossil fuel power plants, wind energy also saves water. More water is withdrawn from lakes, rivers, streams and aquifers in the United States for the purpose of cooling power plants than for any other purpose, according to wind power backers.
Environment America’s report shows that wind energy saves enough water to supply the annual water needs of a city the size of Boston. This is important on the heels of the U.S. Department of Agriculture finding that 80 percent of agricultural land was impaired by drought in 2012 – the most extensive drought in the United States since the 1950s.
The report outlines that wind energy would then prevent as much global warming pollution as taking an additional 11 million cars off the road, and save enough water to supply an additional 600,000 people.
Wind energy now powers nearly 13 million homes across the country, but development is expected to slow if Congress fails to extend the renewable energy production tax credit and the offshore wind investment tax credit before the end of this year.
Despite the benefits of wind energy and wide bipartisan support for federal policies to promote renewable energy, fossil fuel interests and their allies in Congress are vigorously opposing extension of the credits, Carper’s office noted.
In Delaware, the opposition is led by the Dover-based Caesar Rodney Institute, which says that nuclear power and natural gas are the answer to the state’s energy needs.
University of Delaware photo,
