PTC Extension Bill
This just in from AWEA:
Date: Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 10:00pm PDT
Blumenauer proposes renewable energy tax credit extension
By Christina Williams
Sustainable Business Oregon
U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) joined with Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) to introduce a bill to extend the federal tax credit for production of wind power, geothermal power, hydropower and other forms of renewable energy.
The “American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension” bill calls for an extension of the credits through 2016.
“Tax credits for renewable energy development are an essential part of poweringAmerica’s clean energy future,” Blumenauer said in a statement. “Investing in the renewable energy industry is vitally important for the American economy, creates jobs, and helps curbAmerica’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil.”
The bill was welcomed by officials from the renewable energy industry, which credits the incentive for much of its momentum in recent years.
“Extending the (production tax credit) will keep growing U.S.wind energy manufacturing jobs, rather than losing them to other countries,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, in a press release.
An end to the renewable energy production tax credit, which has been around in some form since 1992, would deal a harsh blow to the renewable energy industry, especially for electricity-generating technologies that are significantly more expensive that conventional power.
