The $1.1 trillion, 2009 page omnibus spending bill was released, and, oh, by the way, buried at the end on page 2002, under Miscellaneous Provisions, was a five year extension of the PTC (Production Tax Credit) phased out with a reduction of 20% each year over the last three years. Congress must be proud of their work on this bill, they posted it online in the night, while everyone was talking about the Republican debate.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett builds a lot of wind farms, and for those of you not familiar with his views on wind and tax credits, it’s worth noting what he thinks:
I will do anything that is basically covered by the law to reduce Berkshire’s tax rate, for example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.
~ Warren Buffett – from interview with Fortune magazine
Wind energy makes no sense, even with tax credits, because it is unreliable and extremely expensive, and the monster turbines in your community are ugly to look at, unsafe to be around and destructive to property values, though rich investors like Buffett and other major wind developers aren’t concerned about that as long as they get the government money, because that’s what wind energy is all about.
The bill is expected to be voted on within the next few days and if passed as is, which is expected, the PTC will be back in effect.
UPDATE: The bill has passed both the House and Senate. The President has signed the bill.
Remember: Without government subsidies to the wind industry, there is no wind industry.
Suzanne Albright says
“Power is everything and money is power”, and this is the sad, pathetic reality of the downward spiral of our government’s agenda and ability (or choice) to serve us with integrity and honor. In other words, the corruption in our government is our ruling force. It doesn’t mean that well intentioned, motivated individuals and groups such as those of us who fight the wind industry will give up, but we recognize that we are fighting a dynasty, not a democracy.
Jack Christman a says
It is what it is.
Susan Dudley says
Ironic that big oil gets the export ban lifted in the same bill that useless ‘green’ industrial wind gets an extension of the production tax credit. So we’ll produce more fossil fuel and sell it to other countries while we subsidize inefficient industrial wind turbines in a useless attempt to meet our GHG emission reduction objectives. It’s a very sad joke…. except for the people making millions of these projects. The average tax payer will just get higher energy bills and unreliable electricity in the long run.