November 27, 2013
New York

Hanna calls for end to wind energy subsidy

by Ripon Advance Reports | November 26, 2013 | riponadvance.com

Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) joined a bipartisan group of legislators on Monday who asked House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) to allow the wind production tax credit to lapse at the end of the year.

The PTC was established in 1992 and currently subsidizes the production of wind energy at approximately 2.3 cents per kilowatt.

Extending the tax credit for one year would cost approximately $6 billion, and a five-year expansion would cost more than $18 billion, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

“Upstate New Yorkers already pay some of the highest tax rates in the nation,” Hanna said. “My constituents don’t want or need to be subsidizing wind power, which would not be economically viable without reaching into middle class Americans’ pockets.”

More than 60,000 megawatts of wind energy are produced each year, and wind electricity was the No. 1 source of new power in 2012, according to the Department of Energy.

“Our government must play a role shifting us away from foreign, hostile sources of energy, but we must do so in a fiscally responsible manner,” Hanna said. “Wind energy can be part of our future, but it is simply time to stop supporting multi-billion dollar subsidies for an industry which has failed to become efficient or reliable despite immense taxpayer support.”

Hanna expressed optimism that wind energy could eventually become economically viable without a taxpayer subsidy through industry innovation and competition

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/11/27/hanna-calls-for-end-to-wind-energy-subsidy/