Group lobbies against wind energy credits
Submitted by Friends of Searchlight Desert and Mountains | Elko Daily Free Press | January 2, 2012 | elkodaily.com
Submitted by Friends of Searchlight Desert and Mountains | Elko Daily Free Press | January 2, 2012 | elkodaily.com
More than 40 Nevada residents have joined nearly 6,500 citizens in 25 states in signing letters urging Congress to oppose any extension of the wind energy production tax credit (”PTC”) due to expire at the end of this year. More than 200 U.S. Senators and members of Congress received the letter.
“We are very much aware that Congress is under pressure from the recipients of these subsidies to renew the PTC. We are asking our elected representatives to resist that pressure and let the PTC end on schedule,” said Judy Bundorf, who coordinated the letter campaign in Nevada. “Renewing the PTC would cost billions that our nation simply cannot afford, without any material benefit to the economy.”
It has been evident for years that government support for wind energy development is very costly, and has utterly failed to establish industrial-scale wind as a self-sustaining contributor to meeting our energy needs.
These letters emphasize that since the PTC was first introduced in 1992, the federal government has provided $40 billion to the industrial wind energy industry in tax credits and cash grants, with these costs increasing dramatically in recent years. This government money which is drawn from other taxpayers and, of course, borrowed in domestic and international government bond markets, exacerbates the already-excessive cost of wind energy to consumers and the public. Policies in many states now compel utilities to use renewable energy at prices significantly above market price and, in addition, provide extensive local tax breaks.
“Like so many communities across the United States, Nevada residents are being forced to defend against the permanent impacts of these enormous projects on our environment and quality of life,” Bundorf said, adding that “the high cost of Nevada wind power easily exceeds the economic benefits touted by proponents and, thus, serves as a drain on our overall economy.”
“There is no plausible justification for continuing this spending, and certainly not when the nation is facing the huge debt and deficits prevailing today,” the group wrote.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/01/02/group-lobbies-against-wind-energy-credits/