Grassley Files Wind Energy Tax Credit Amendments

Statement

M E M O R A N D U M

TO: Reporters and Editors
RE: Tax extenders and the wind-energy production tax credit
DA: Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Senator Chuck Grassley issued the following comment about the two amendments he filed to The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012. The Finance Committee is expected to mark up the proposal this week.

Grassley comment:

"It's not right to single out one energy incentive over others before a broader tax reform debate. I've filed two amendments. One is a straight two-year extension of the wind credit, like the legislation I introduced earlier this year. The other is a one-year extension with necessary provisions so that wind-energy producers can, in fact, take advantage of an extension that's for only one year. An extension needs to be effective. I'm working with Chairman Baucus, Ranking Member Hatch, Senator Cantwell, and Senator Bingaman, and it's my understanding there's support from the committee leaders to include wind energy when the committee meets to take action."

Description of the Grassley amendments:

Grassley Amendment #1 to The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012
Short Title: Wind Production Tax Credit Extension
Description of Amendment: Extend for two years, through December 31, 2014, the section 45 production tax credit for wind which expires on December 31, 2012.

Grassley Amendment #2 to The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012
Short Title: Wind Production Tax Credit Extension
Description of Amendment: Extend for one year, through December 31, 2013, the section 45 production tax credit for wind which expires on December 31, 2012. Modify placed-in-service date for wind to a "begin construction" rule.

Background information:

Senator Grassley authored the legislation that created the wind-energy production tax credit in 1992 as a way to provide a level playing field for this renewable resource against coal-fired and nuclear energy and to help grow an innovative energy industry. He has won passage of extensions a number of times. The credit has been a tremendous success in helping to develop clean, renewable and domestically produced wind energy.

As this point, wind-energy production supports 75,000 American jobs and drives as much as $20 billion in private investment. During the last five years, 35 percent of all new electric generation in the United States was wind. There are nearly 400 wind-related manufacturing facilities in the United States today, compared with just 30 in 2004.

Conventional energy sources, including oil, gas and nuclear, enjoy countless tax incentives and many of them are permanent law.

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