Production Tax Credit for wind, the gift that keeps on giving

Patrick Cassidy reports in Cape Cod Online that Senator Scott Brown was against it before he was for it. Last week constituent calls seemed to convince Brown to vote against the wind subsidy tacked onto the transportation bill. By the end of the week he was a co-sponsor of a new amendment.

It is easy to see that the wind lobbyists are playing hardball with Congress, hoping to defeat public opposition to this wasteful spending. In spite of industry efforts, the measure has been tried and failed several times since December.

The tax credit — set to expire at the end of the year — provides 2.2 cents credit per kilowatt-hour of energy produced in the first 10 years of a wind-energy facility’s operation.

Tax credits, grants for development, and other incentives are keeping this dying industry alive as country after country abandons development of onshore wind plants.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/23523