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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Green Energy

Dear Reader, I am passing on this e-mail, because Green Energy is in its infancy and needs our support;
Wind power companies are laying off thousands of workers across America — and that means less clean, renewable, American wind power for our homes and our communities.

And it's all because House leaders refuse to renew a simple tax credit that enjoys rare bipartisan support.

Tell John Boehner: Stop listening to ExxonMobil, the Koch brothers, and the coal industry and renew the American Wind Power Tax Credit.

This should be a no-brainer. Instead, it's turning into an American tragedy. Thanks to the Wind Power Tax Credit, wind power is an American success story. It has grown 20-fold since 2000, providing 75,000 jobs and generating as much energy as 44 coal plants… enough to power 13 million homes. If we can keep it up, that will mean even less dependence on fossil fuels, less global warming pollution, less mountaintop removal, and less fracking and tens of thousands more jobs over the next 4 years.

Yet the tax credit is due to expire on Dec. 31. So far, House leaders have refused to act. Talk about "regulatory uncertainty" ...wind power companies have let go thousands of workers in past few months because of the uncertainty about the future of the tax credits. 37,000 jobs are expected to be lost if the tax credit expires at the end of the year.

That's why we've launched an emergency campaign to send at least 37,000 signatures to House Speaker John Boehner by Nov. 7. Will you add your name to the list of people demanding Congressional action on wind power?

Who wants to renew the credit, aside from you, me and the rest of the environmental community? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Bureau, the U.S. Steelworkers, the National Governors’ Association, along with the Democratic Congressional leadership and President Obama. But also Republicans like Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback.  In fact, 81% of our wind power is being generated in districts represented by Republicans in Congress.

Who wants to let the tax credit expire? Big Oil and the fossil fuel industry. What's their argument? Get this: they don't want to see "Big Wind" enjoy an unlevel playing field. This, from the very established coal, oil and gas industries that, over time, have received nearly 10 times more per year in federal subsidies than renewable energy sources.

It's insulting to our intelligence. It's wrong for the country. And it's wrong for our environment. But unless we push House leaders to act, Big Oil's nonsense will win the day, thousands of Americans will be out of a job, and we'll see less wind and more pollution.

Take action to make sure this American success story doesn’t end here.
Margie Alt
Executive Director

1 comment:

  1. Hi there! great stuff, glad to drop by your page and found these very interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing about green energy tax credits, keep it up!
    The Production Tax Credit (PTC) was enacted as part of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Since then it has been extended and modified several times. Most recently, the PTC was included in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009. Under the current provisions, wind facilities placed in service by December 31, 2012 and biomass, geothermal, hydropower, hydrokinetic, landfill gas, and municipal solid waste facilities placed in service by December 31, 2013 may qualify for this credit.

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