December 15, 2012
U.S.

Head of wind energy industry group resigns

By Steven Mufson, Published: December 14 | www.washingtonpost.com

Anticipating a major tax reform effort next year, Denise Bode stepped down Friday as head of the American Wind Energy Association to work as a private lobbyist on tax issues next year.

Bode, who has been chief executive of the wind industry group for four years, said “the opportunity to be just focused on advocacy in this kind of setting only comes once every 30 years.” She said she would stay with the group through the end of the year to try to secure an extension of the production tax credit for wind projects.

Rob Gramlich, senior vice president for policy at AWEA, will become the group’s interim director.

Bode’s husband, John, is a lawyer who represents food and agriculture interests. The two worked as Senate staffers years ago and might work together in her new endeavor, Denise Bode said. Bode has also worked for the American Clean Skies Foundation, the Independent Petroleum Association of America and for then-Sen. David Boren (D-Okla.) as his legal counsel, focusing on energy and taxation.

Bode said she had built bipartisan support for the production tax credit for wind energy projects and that she believed it would win an extension before expiring at the end of the year. Earlier this week, AWEA unveiled a proposal to phase out the tax credit, ending in 2018.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/12/15/head-of-wind-energy-industry-group-resigns/