CITIZENS URGE CONGRESS TO OPPOSE THE EXTENSION OF THE WIND ENERGY PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT

News Release from Friends of Lanai December 27, 2012

Hawai`i residents join nearly 6,500 others nationwide in saying no to the wind PTC Lana`i City, Hawai`i, December 27, 2012. More than 100 Hawai`i residents have joined nearly 6,500 citizens in 25 states in signing letters urging Congress to oppose any extension of the wind energy production tax credit (“PTC”) due to expire at the end of this year. More than 200 U.S. Senators and Members of Congress received the letter.

"We are very much aware that Congress is under pressure from the recipients of these subsidies to renew the PTC. We are asking our elected Representatives to resist that pressure and let the PTC end on schedule, " said Robin Kaye, spokesperson for Friends of Lana`i who coordinated the letter campaign in Hawai`i. "Renewing the PTC would cost billions that our nation simply cannot afford, without any material benefit to the economy."

It has been evident for years that government support for wind energy development is very costly, and has utterly failed to establish industrial-scale wind as a self-sustaining contributor to meeting our energy needs.

These letters emphasize that since the PTC was first introduced in 1992, the federal government has provided $40 billion to the industrial wind energy industry in tax credits and cash grants, with these costs increasing dramatically in recent years. This government money which is drawn from other taxpayers and, of course, borrowed in domestic and international government bond markets, exacerbates the already-excessive cost of wind energy to consumers and the public.

Policies in many states now compel utilities to use renewable energy at prices significantly above market price and, in addition, provide extensive local tax breaks.

Like so many communities across the United States, “A growing number of Hawai`i residents and visitors are beginning to understand the potential – and irrevocable – destruction that placing hundreds of massive turbines in our rural areas will bring. The turbines catch on fire, they do not provide firm power, and we will always need oil as a backup. It’s all about cashing in on the government benefits, and there is no plausible justification for continuing this spending, certainly not when the nation is facing the huge debt and deficits prevailing today," Friends of Lana`i wrote.

To read the entire letter, click here.

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Bonus: 12 Days of Christmas, Lanai Style

Related: The wind production tax credit still hangs in the fiscal-cliff balance