Extend the wind energy tax credit
Suddenly, much of the wind has gone out of the sails of a once-growing industry in Kansas — and in this country.
Wind energy companies are laying off a lot of employees, cutting production and making dire predictions about their future. The biggest concern: Congress has not extended a crucial tax credit that makes it financially feasible for the industry to compete with other subsidized energy sources.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, along with U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, are battling to keep the credit. Good for these three Republicans. Even though the situation looks bleak now — a large number of GOP House members have vowed to stop any extension — it still could be approved after the Nov. 6 election.
That would be a good move for the nation, which needs to increase its sources of clean and renewable energy.
Critics will continue to complain that wind-produced electricity is more expensive than coal-generated power. However, as we have noted often, the true costs of fossil fuels must include the expenses of dealing with the very real environmental damages they cause.
Opposing lawmakers also claim they don’t want to pick “winners and losers” by backing the tax credit extension. The U.S. tax code does that every day, with some of its rules slanted in favor of Big Oil and other energy industries.
As it is now, Kansas stands to lose hundreds of wind-related jobs in the next year, undermining progress on wind energy construction projects in the state.
The failure to extend the tax credit also could hurt efforts by utilities to bolster the diversity of their power sources, a troubling move backward. Brownback and others have pointed out that, even with the inclusion of wind-generated power, electricity rates in Kansas continue to be below those in many other parts of the country.
The wind energy industry, through more research and engineering, does need to improve the efficiency of its turbines to bring down its costs to consumers.
But the likelihood of technological changes being made in the long-term will grow dimmer unless Congress extends the tax credit by late 2012.
William R. Nelson
8 months, 3 weeks agoIn other words, The Star endorses extending certain forms of corporate welfare - but only for those ‘correct’ corporations.
Steven Fetter
66223
8 months, 3 weeks agoThe traditional energy sources (coal, oil, gas) are profitable, pay taxes on their profits to federal/state/local governments, require no subsidies to compete, are cheaper, and dependable.
Wind farms require huge amounts of land, new infrastructure to build power lines (requiring even more land), are heavily subsidized, pay little or no federal or state taxes, are less dependable, more expensive, and allow companies like GE and Siemans to escape paying taxes.
Once and for all, discontinue all subsidies to all energy sources (including ethanol), and let the market decide.
George Hunsucker
Northland
8 months, 3 weeks agoBut Steven, what would all these friggin overpaid bureaucrats do?????
Phil Cardarella
8 months, 3 weeks agoSteven Fetter
66223 3 hours, 1 minute ago
The traditional energy sources (coal, oil, gas) are profitable, pay taxes on their profits to federal/state/local governments, require no subsidies to compete, are cheaper, and dependable.
“Require no subsidies”? “Pay taxes?” On what planet?
Subsidies — from tax credits to cheap use of public land to the massive infrastructure investment that allows cheap transport to the tolerance of environmental damage to calling out troops to suppress union strikes and the national guard to clean up oil spills — have always supported those industries and accounted for their massive profitability.
Does a clean energy system start-up need some support? YES! Just like it has gotten in Europe and China — where sanity prevails over Carbon Politics.
But, on what planet does using renewable energy to reduce depletion of a finite supply of non-renewable energy not make sense? Planet Koch?
George Hunsucker
Northland
8 months, 3 weeks agoYou can’t use logic with libs Steven….
Steven Fetter
66223
8 months, 3 weeks ago@ Phil
Our standard of living is directly tied to cheap and dependable energy.
40 years ago, during the Carter administration, it was postulated that we would be out of recoverable oil within the next 30 years.
The US currently has more proven reserves of oil, gas, and coal than was documented in 1976.
Cheap and dependable energy is the lifeblood of a healthy economy. $4 gas and $300 utility bills are painful, especially to the poor.
The tax money generated from a gallon of gas starts at the rig, extends to the pipeline, and is maximized at the pump. Federal, state, and local governments make 5x what an oil company makes on a gallon of gas.
I am not aware of any taxes paid by wind producers.
When the finite resource becomes expensive enough, the market will shift to an alternative source.
Let’s start cutting spending and maximizing revenues by ending all subsidies on all energy sources. This should be an easy call.
Mark Hastert
8 months, 3 weeks agoIf we’re to really be independent and free ourselves of the foreign entanglements that our current dependency has wrought we’ll need to squeeze every last watt from every possible source. We can’t wait or a crisis to motivate us. Smart electrical grids take time and money. Natural gas fire generating plants take time too. Electric cars, both hybrids and plug-ins and natural gas will eventually replace gasoline and diesel. But it’s all going to take time and money. Let’s not be penny wise and pound foolish. China is building lots of coal fired electrical plants but they’re also leading the world in solar and wind. They understand that the problem is not one dimensional like so much of our current thinking.