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The Wind Industry Gets to Draw Another Breath
In the last-minute tax maneuvering in Congress this week, wind power came out well. Wind not only got an extension of its tax credit in the federal budget compromise, but the rules were also restructured: while the extension runs for only one year, the nature of the deadline has changed. Projects do not need to be finished and feeding electricity to the grid by next New Year’s Eve; construction only needs to be started. [ read more … ]
Wind Power Changes Iowa Landscape In Multiple Ways
Despite their frustration with Congress, some farmers are relieved, but not because of the money they make on their crops. In part of the fiscal cliff deal, Congress extended a tax credit that benefits the wind energy industry. And that is today’s bottom-line in business. The landscapes of Midwestern farm states have changed dramatically, due to wind power. As NPR’s Sonari Glinton reports, wind has also changed the landscape economically and politically. [ read more … ]
Interior seeks industry interest in N.Y. coastal waters
The Obama administration today said it is gauging industry interest in developing wind power in a 127-square-mile area off the coast of New York, where a state power organization has proposed building a 350-megawatt wind farm. If no other parties are interested in developing the area, the Interior Department said it would consider granting the New York Power Authority the exclusive right to build a project. [ read more … ]
Opinion: Sen. Bernie Sanders Defends Wind Industry Subsidies
I have been trying to figure out what principle underlies your opposition to encouraging the development of clean, renewable energy sources that create American jobs and could help us avoid the planetary calamity of global warming. Are you really worried about budget deficits? While railing against modest incentives for wind energy, you say nothing of the more than $113 billion in federal subsidies that will go to fossil-fuel industries over the next 10 years alone. These subsidies benefit some of the wealthiest corporations on the planet, including the five largest oil corporations, which made a combined profit of $1 trillion over the last decade. [ read more … ]
The fiscal cliff deal helped wind power. But our wind policy is still insane.
As part of the bargain, Congress extended a key tax credit for wind power for another year — at a cost of some $12 billion over 10 years. Not only that, but Congress made a small tweak: Wind producers won’t have to finish their projects by 2013 to qualify for the production tax credit. They’ll just have to begin building this year. That’s a crucial change that could give the U.S. wind industry a boost in the decade ahead. But even with the tax credit renewal, the wind industry is still likely to slump next year. And that’s partly because congressional support for wind is extremely erratic — never steady, and always on the verge of expiration. [ read more … ]
3 new Republican members join Energy and Natural Resources
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will add three Republican members this year, including two conservative freshmen, GOP leadership announced today. Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), two of their party’s more conservative members, will join the panel, while Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) will return to the committee after a stint on Environment and Public Works, which he is leaving. They will be taking over for Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Daniel Coats (R-Ind.). [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.