Letter to Ron Wyden, Chairman Committee on Finance and Orrin Hatch, Ranking Member Committee on Finance - Include Extensions of Investment Tax Credit and Production Tax Credit for Wind Energy in Upcoming Tax-Extenders Package

Letter

The Honorable Ron Wyden
Chairman
Committee on Finance
United States Senate
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Orrin Hatch
Ranking Member
Committee on Finance
United States Senate
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Wyden and Ranking Member Hatch:

We are writing on behalf of the 80,000 Americans employed by the U.S. wind industry -- representing jobs in all fifty states -- to strongly urge that you include an extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) as part of any tax extenders legislation. Wind energy now provides power to over 15 million American homes, as well as to many thousands of farms and businesses. The industry has driven $105 billion of investment in the U.S. economy since 2005, while driving down the cost of wind power by 43 percent in the last four years alone.

The American wind industry's growth, its cost competitiveness and its creation of American jobs have been partially driven by successful, bi-partisan federal tax policy, namely the PTC and the ITC. Unfortunately, as you know, these credits expired at the end of 2013. Like all businesses, the wind industry seeks certainty and predictability so that long term project decisions and investments can be made. Without that stability, we once again risk losing many of the jobs, infrastructure and investment that the wind industry has created. Furthermore, we risk weakening our national energy security by failing to foster such an important source of clean, domestic energy.

We are encouraged by the Senate Finance Committee's interest in taking up tax extenders legislation. We support this effort and ask that such legislation -- with inclusion of an extension of the PTC and ITC which expired in December of last year -- be considered by the Committee as soon as possible so that it can be taken up by the full Senate without delay. Expeditious action is necessary to avoid further layoffs and divestment. Thank you for taking our views into consideration and do not hesitate to call on us if we can be helpful in making progress on this important effort.