November 13, 2012

MEDIA ADVISORY: Contacts:

Larry Pearce 402-651-2948 larry@governorscoalition.org

Tim Albrecht (Branstad) (515) 725-3507

Tim Raphael (Kitzhaber) (503) 689-6117

__________ (Brownback) invited

Mary Smith (Hickenlooper)

 

Bipartisan coalition of governors urges immediate passage of wind Production Tax Credit

 

Governors Branstad and Kitzhaber lead news conference in D.C. calling on Congress to save American wind jobs

 

WHAT: Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber urge Congress to pass the wind production tax credit (PTC) during the lame duck session. Both Governors remind D.C. leaders that the failure to pass the PTC has already negatively impacted the wind energy industry and a further delay in extending the PTC could cost more American jobs.

 

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (invited) and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper will also join the news conference by phone. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who sponsored the senate bill (S. 3521) to extend the wind production tax credit (PTC), will also join the governors for this important event.

 

The Governors’ Wind Coalition is a bipartisan group of 28 governors from across the country, who share a common interest in diversifying our nation’s energy portfolio to create American jobs and fully leverage the tremendous renewable wind energy resources in our country.

 

WHO: Governor Terry Branstad (R-IA), Chair, Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition

Governor John Kitzhaber (D-O), Vice Chair, Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition

Governor Sam Brownback (R-KS), Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition, Coalition member (invited)

Governor John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Governors’ Wind Energy, Coalition Coalition vice chair

Larry Pearce, Executive Director, Governors Wind Energy Coalition

 

WHEN: Tuesday, November 13, 2012

11:00 EST/10:00 CST/9:00 MT/ 8:00 PT

 

WHERE: CAPITOL HILL ROOM NUMBER: TBA

 

CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION:

Name: Governors Wind Energy Coalition Press Call

Time of Call: 11:00 Eastern Time

Participant Dial-In Number(s): (877) 583-1576

Conference ID # 69677208

WHY: Governors from diverse areas of the nation share a common and bipartisan interest in harnessing the affordable, renewable, and homegrown wind power. The governors are pleased to work with key leaders in Congress to discuss the importance of the wind energy industry. Without a PTC extension, it is estimated that the U.S. economy will lose 37,000 wind industry jobs and the opportunity to leverage over $10 billion of private investment. As the wind energy industry in the states of Iowa, Colorado, Oregon and Kansas has developed, a whole new manufacturing sector has been created, manufacturing component parts for wind turbines. Nearly 70 percent of a wind turbine’s value is manufactured in the U.S. today, at nearly 500 facilities across 44 states. America’s wind energy industry has generated over $15 billion in private investment annually in each of the past five years, and employs 75,000 Americans.

 

The Coalition’s policy activities address all aspects of wind energy development, and technologies yet to come. For more information, visit www.GovernorsWindEnergyCoalition.org

 

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