Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says workers in the wind energy industry “need certainty” and that’s why he’s trying to extend the wind energy production tax credit. Grassley and another Republican senator joined with 17 Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee Thursday to pass a bill that includes a one-year reprieve for producers of wind energy.
“We’re all set to have a continuation of the wind energy production tax credit,” Grassley says. The next stop for the legislation is the full senate. Grassley says it makes no sense to “single out” the wind power tax break for extinction while allowing other tax breaks for the energy industry to remain in place.
“I think that what we have to do is make sure that we have a level playing field for wind energy,” Grassley says, “and the production tax credit does that.” However, Grassley says it shouldn’t be a permanent part of the tax code and the credit for wind energy producers should be phased out over the next few years.
“But the most important thing is we don’t talk about doing away with any of these energy credits one by one,” Grassley says. “What we need to do is preserve them until next year when we get to corporate tax reform.” The bill that cleared the U.S. Senate Finance Committee yesterday also reinstated the federal tax incentive for biodiesel.
By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic