by Shane Henson — August 15, 2012—The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), an organization that promotes wind energy as a clean source of electricity for consumers around the world, recently applauded the extension of critical tax relief to save 37,000 jobs in wind energy and continue growing U.S. manufacturing. The relief was advanced in the Senate Finance Committee with strong bipartisan support.
By an overwhelming bipartisan margin of 19-5, the committee passed an extenders package that included an extension of the wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC). On critical amendment votes, all the Democratic members and Republican Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Pat Roberts (R-KS) supported the extension of the PTC, says AWEA.
Also in the committee’s markup is an extension of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which provides an incentive for the development of offshore and community wind projects.
“We applaud the committee for this act of leadership to move critical policies forward in a difficult environment,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. “This was an extremely important step to provide critical certainty to keep people at work in wind energy manufacturing and construction.”
