February 15, 2012
U.S.

Beltway Blog — Bennet pushes to save wind energy tax credit with Kansas Republican

By Allison Sherry, The Spot, The Denver Post, denverpost.com 15 February 2012

WASHINGTON – Sen. Michael Bennet has filed an amendment with a Kansas Republican to extend the wind energy tax credit for one year.

The amendment is attached to a transportation funding bill and would extend the wind-energy-production tax credit for one year. It would be paid for by delaying the implementation of a corporate accounting technicality, which Congress has delayed three other times with bipartisan support.

“Colorado stands to suffer a huge economic blow if Congress can’t get its act together and extend this critical tax credit,” Bennet said in a statement to The Denver Post Wednesday. “This tax credit has bipartisan support, and Colorado companies are counting on us to get it across the finish line. It’s time to act.”

The House will be voting on parts of the transportation bill tomorrow and the Senate is likely to take it up after next week’s recess at the end of February, though Bennet’s amendment has not been accepted yet and is not guaranteed a vote.

Earlier this month, everyone in Colorado’s nine-member delegation, except Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, signed a letter to Congressional leadership urging the extension of the wind energy tax credit.

About 1,700 people are employed in Colorado by Vestas Wind Systems, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer. In January, Vestas chief executive officer Ditlev Engle said failure to extend the tax credit could affect 1,600 jobs in the U.S.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/02/15/beltway-blog-bennet-pushes-to-save-wind-energy-tax-credit-with-kansas-republican/