Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

Marc Spitzer, a Republican member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, announced his resignation yesterday.

The House GOP last night edged closer to an explosive end-of-year standoff with Senate Democrats and the White House as it approved a tax-cut package that includes speedy approval of the politically volatile Keystone XL oil pipeline and a rollback of U.S. EPA’s boiler emissions limits.

The wind power industry is warning that it could lose thousands of jobs if Congress lets a key tax credit expire next year, amid a backdrop of disdain for green subsidies by conservative politicians.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has asked her staffers to work on legislation to ensure the electric grid remains stable under new U.S. EPA rules, she said this afternoon.

Capitol Hill’s biggest energy policy trend of 2011 is a Congress unable to accomplish much of anything. Don’t expect that to change until after next year’s election.

Pennsylvania’s chances to create thousands of jobs in the wind energy industry and get an economic boost from $1.5 billion in investments over the next four years could be reduced if Congress does not extend a tax credit that will expire at the end of 2012, wind power supporters said Monday.

If you want something from Congress, there are probably only about four shopping days left until Christmas, because most members of the House and Senate seem likely to go home on Friday. One big item on the green list is an extension of the production tax credit for wind energy, and the industry’s trade association, the American Wind Energy Association, released a dire study on Monday about what will happen without it.

Wind energy manufacturers with facilities in IL, IA, KS, NC, SC and FL will join AWEA for a press call at 11am MONDAY. Please contact Ellen Carey above for call in details.

This week, Statoil has an application for a pilot demonstration of their Hywind floating wind turbine 12 miles off the coast of Maine before the new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for approval. The demo would be the fruition of a project begun in 2009, and funded by the Department of Energy.

The Western Governors’ Association announced the hiring yesterday of consultants to help break a permit backlog for long-distance power lines that would harness isolated pockets of wind and solar energy.