Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota is leading a group of nine Republican senators warning fellow Republican Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Finance Committee, not to allow for the extension of wind tax credits set to expire at the end of the year, according to a letter obtained by Josh last night.

The wind production tax credit “was supposed to be temporary in order to level the playing field with other power generators,” the senators write in a letter Tuesday morningthey sent to Grassley, a major champion of the dominant wind energy industry in his home state of Iowa. “However, over time, the reverse has occurred. This tax provision has become a competitive advantage to wind generators.”

Congress should avoid continuing the wind tax credit when it considers extensions of expiring tax provisions or through the appropriations process later this year, the senators will tell Grassley.

The other senators signing the letter are John Barrasso, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Lamar Alexander, Shelley Moore Capito, Mike Enzi, John Hoeven, James Lankford, Pat Toomey, and Jim Inhofe.

Read between the lines: While the letter does not mention the latest pandemic relief legislation being negotiated, it can’t be a good sign for the prospects of clean energy policy making it into those discussions. That’s especially true since the wind production tax credit, originally set to expire in 2019, has been relatively uncontroversial and was one of only a few to get extended in December as part of must-pass spending legislation.