[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 18 (Wednesday, February 27, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1237-S1238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        THE WIND ENERGY PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT SHOULD BE EXTENDED

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, about a week ago I spoke briefly on a 
subject that falls under the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance 
Committee and that is referred to as the extenders. This term does not 
mean much to people, but the extenders are tax provisions that expire 
at certain times. For example, at the end of last year one of the tax 
provisions that expired was the wind energy production tax credit. It 
is a tax credit that was in law to stimulate the development of wind 
energy in our country.
  That tax credit expired on December 31 and, at that moment, the 
development pretty well stopped because the expectation was that the 
credit would be extended, but it has not been extended. This credit is 
one of a handful of extenders that should have been extended at the end 
of last year. The Congress did not do it, because it got connected to 
the issue of the economic recovery package, and it went back and forth 
between the House and the Senate.
  The fact is, at the end of the day, this tax provision expired and 
wind energy development has pretty well stopped around the country. By 
``wind energy development,'' I mean those developments that were on the 
books with plans underway, and ready to be financed and installed 
across the country.
  What does this wind energy mean? We are going to take up an energy 
bill as soon as we figure out what to do with the filibuster on the 
election reform bill, and when we talk about the energy bill in this 
country we talk about the need to produce additional energy: more oil, 
more natural gas, more coal. Yes, we are going to produce more by 
digging and drilling, and do that in an environmentally acceptable way. 
But limitless and renewable sources of energy such as ethanol, 
biodiesel, wind energy, and others, are also a very important part of 
what we ought to be doing in this country.
  Let me focus for a moment on wind energy, because I come from a State 
in which wind energy has great potential. The Department of Energy 
ranks the States and their potential for wind energy, and North Dakota 
ranks No. 1. We are called the Saudi Arabia of wind for its energy 
potential.
  North Dakota is a lot of things. Most of all, it is wonderful. It 
ranks 50th, dead last, in native forest lands. That means we have less 
trees than anybody else. But we have a ranking of No. 1 in wind and the 
ability to take the energy from the wind, put it in transmission lines, 
and move it around our country to extend America's energy supply.
  I held a wind energy conference in Grand Forks, ND, last week. Over 
700 people came to the conference from all over the country. They had a 
display of a couple of the types of blades used in the new, very large 
turbines. One of these blades weighs 18,000 pounds.
  This new technology is highly efficient and, with the small 
production tax credit, is also very competitive. We have brought the 
price of wind energy way down, and now if we extend this wind energy 
tax credit for 5 years, we will be able to unleash the opportunities in 
wind energy development.
  A CEO of a company came to see me about 2 weeks ago and said his 
company has 150 megawatts of wind-generated electricity on the books 
and prepared to build in North Dakota. He told me the company has the 
money for it, $130 million to $150 million, the plans complete, but 
that it cannot move forward until the company knows whether Congress is 
going to extend the wind energy production tax credit.

  The fact is, the Congress is messing around back and forth, 
stuttering, and not getting it done. This back and forth between the 
House and the Senate means the extenders did not get finished.
  What does that mean? It means companies that were preparing 
investments and were going to be able to build wind energy facilities 
across this country have now put these plans on hold.
  Does that make sense for the country? Is that a good energy strategy? 
I do not think so.
  I am going to be asking unanimous consent, and I will not do it at 
the moment because I wanted to provide notice to others in the Chamber 
as a matter of courtesy, but I will ask either later today or tomorrow, 
unanimous consent to take up the legislation that I have previously 
introduced, S. 94. It provides a 5-year extension of the tax credit for 
electricity produced from wind. I will ask that it be discharged from 
the Senate Finance Committee and be brought to the floor and voted on.
  This is not controversial. We have done this before. We should have 
done it last December but did not. It does not require a big debate. We 
have had debate after debate on this. It is widely supported by 
virtually the entire Senate and the entire House, but it does not get 
done. It is one of these things that runs off the ditch and gets stuck 
there, and nobody thinks much about it.
  The problem is we are not producing the energy we could be producing, 
because these projects are not being built. As we get people in the 
Senate who ring their hands and gnash their teeth and wipe their brow 
about America's energy problems, I want everybody to understand that 
part of the solution--just part--to that problem is to build these 
projects that are ready to go, that can produce and create these new 
highly efficient wind energy turbines, that can put electricity in our 
transmission lines and move it around the country.
  Does anybody remember California and the price spikes, some of the 
other problems we have experienced with energy supply? The fact is, 
this country needs this new form of energy.

[[Page S1238]]

  I would like to talk for an hour about ethanol, biodiesel, and other 
limitless and renewable sources of energy. One of the big oil companies 
once said that ethanol is no good, that it will not work. I saw it in a 
quarter-page ad in a daily newspaper, and I thought, well, if the big 
oil companies say this is not any good, it must be something we ought 
to take a closer look at: Taking the alcohol from a kernel of corn--you 
get a drop of alcohol from a kernel of corn--and you still have the 
protein feedstock left. One can use that alcohol to help contribute to 
America's energy supply. That makes good sense to me. But taking energy 
from the wind and running it through a turbine, through blades that 
turn, and then moving the electricity to the transmission lines, makes 
eminent good sense.
  There is no excuse at all for this Congress to twiddle its thumbs 
when it ought to extend these production tax credits for wind energy. 
It ought to be done not next week, not next month, not next year; it 
ought to be done now. It ought to be done for 5 years. If we get people 
to come out and say first let's not do it, I say they are not thinking 
much about America's energy needs.
  If they say let's do it for a year, I say it will not matter. It will 
not mean a thing. That will not provide enough of an incentive for 
anybody to do anything. Let us give people an opportunity to plan, to 
do the right thing. Let us give people the opportunity and the 
incentive to build, to extend America's energy supplies.
  I am intending to offer that unanimous consent request either later 
today or tomorrow and would want to put people on notice of that.
  Let me, if I might, read a couple of examples of what has happened 
because Congress did not do what it should do. Lonestar Transportation 
of Fort Worth, TX, is losing $1.5 million in revenue per month due to 
the delay of this production tax credit. Trinity Industries of Dallas, 
TX, a builder of wind turbine towers, has furloughed 200 workers and 
projects a revenue loss of $7 million a month. MFG, a builder of 
fiberglass turbine blades located in Gainesville, TX, laid off 138 
skilled workers. Georgia and Texas: CAB, Inc. of Oakwood, GA, and also 
in Texas, that manufactures steel tower components, will see a 50-
percent reduction in revenues because of failure to extend this. In 
Oregon, investment will not be made in a multimillion-dollar wind 
turbine manufacturing facility for Portland. DMI Industries in my State 
of North Dakota, a tower manufacturer in West Fargo, will likely see a 
25-percent decrease in revenues. The company currently employs 165 
people and was planning to hire an additional 50. They will not be able 
to do that at this point. LM Glasfiber, a wind turbine blade 
manufacturer in Grand Forks, has furloughed 30 percent of its 100 
employees because of failure to extend the tax credit. In Louisiana, 
Beaird Industries of Shreveport, LA, a builder of metal towers for wind 
turbines, furloughed 150 of its 500 employees just before Christmas. 
Zond Wind Turbines in California near Bakersfield furloughed 85 skilled 
workers. In West Virginia, Atlantic Renewable Energy Corporation will 
indefinitely delay a $65 million investment in its Backbone Mountain 
site in Tucker County. That is 150 construction jobs. M.A. Mortenson 
Company of Minneapolis, MN, that designs and builds wind tower projects 
throughout the United States, will hold off creating 150 direct 
construction jobs and 450 subcontractor jobs without the extension.
  The list goes on. I ask unanimous consent to have this printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

Economic Development Foregone Due to Delay in Extending the Wind Energy 
                      Production Tax Credit (PTC)

       In 2001 the wind industry installed nearly 1,700 megawatts 
     (MW) of new capacity spurring more than $1.7 billion in 
     direct economic activity.
       For this level of economic activity to continue in 2002, 
     Congress must pass a multi-year extension of the wind energy 
     Production Tax Credit (PTC) immediately. Failure to do so 
     would forego billions in economic activity and thousands of 
     jobs such as . . .
       Texas: Lonestar Transportation of Ft. Worth, TX is losing 
     $1.5 million in revenue per month due to the PTC delay. Last 
     year the company earned $20 million--a full 20 percent of 
     company revenues--by trucking wind turbine towers, blades, 
     and generating units to development sites. Contact: David 
     Ferebee, V.P. of Sales at 1-800-541-8271.
       Trinity Industries of Dallas, TX, a builder of wind turbine 
     towers, has furloughed 200 workers and projects a revenue 
     loss of $7 million per month (or $84 million over 12 months) 
     until the PTC is extended. Contact: John Miller at 512-322-
     0299.
       MFG, a builder of fiberglass turbine blades located in 
     Gainsville, laid off 138 skilled workers upon notification 
     that Congress had not extended the wind tax credit.
       Georgia and Texas: CAB, Inc. of Oakwood, GA and 
     Nacogdoches, TX, a manufacturer of steel tower components 
     will likely see a 50 percent reduction in revenues with 
     workforce reductions of 30-40%. Contact: Ms. Terri Jondahl, 
     Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, at 888-
     241-7312, www.cabinc.com.
 Oregon: Investment will not be made in a multi-million 
     dollar wind turbine manufacturing facility for Portland that 
     would have provided as many as 1,000 jobs.
       North Dakota: DMI Industries, a tower manufacturer in West 
     Fargo, ND, will likely see a 25 percent decrease in revenues 
     (about $15 million) in 2002 without an early PTC extension. 
     The company currently employs 165 people and planned to hire 
     an additional 50. Contact: Chuck Savageau, Business 
     Development Manager at 701-282-6959, 
     [email protected].
       LMGlasfiber, a wind turbine blade manufacturer in Grand 
     Forks has furloughed 30 percent of its more than 100 
     employees because of failure to extend the wind tax credit. 
     Had the tax credit been extended last year, the company would 
     have ramped up to 200 jobs. Contact: Craig Hoiseth, 
     President, LM Glasfiber, 701-780-9910.
       Louisiana: Beaird Industries of Shreveport, LA--a builder 
     of metal towers for wind turbines--furloughed 150 of its 500 
     employees just before Christmas 2001 because failure to 
     extend the wind tax credit resulted in no new orders for 
     towers. Last year the company built 800 steel towers for wind 
     turbines. Contact: Alberto Garcia, VP for Sales at 318-865-
     6351.
       California: Zond wind turbines, manufactured near 
     Bakersfield, CA, have furloughed 85 skilled workers because 
     failure to extend the PTC has caused a halt in orders for new 
     turbines. Contact: Robert ``Hap'' Boyd at 213-452-5103.
       West Virginia: Without an immediate PTC extension Atlantic 
     Renewable Energy Corp. will indefinitely delay a $65 million 
     investment in its Backbone Mountain site in Tucker County. 
     This project would provide about 150 construction jobs and as 
     many as 6 permanent operations and maintenance jobs. Contact: 
     Sam Enfield of Atlantic Renewable Energy Corporation at 301-
     407-0424.
       Minnesota: M.A. Mortenson Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota 
     a design/build contractor of wind power projects throughout 
     the United States will have to hold off on creating up to 150 
     direct construction jobs and 450 subcontractor jobs in 2002 
     without the PTC extension. The loss in revenue to M.A. 
     Mortenson Company will be up to $70,000,000 in 2002. Contact 
     Jerry Grundtner, General Manager, at 763-387-5513.
       Farm Economy: Net farm earnings are expected to drop by 20 
     percent his year (from $49.3 billion to $40.6 billion) 
     according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Extending 
     the PTC expeditiously will pump significant additional income 
     into the farm economy by allowing more farms to host wind 
     turbines. Wind developers provide lease payments to farmers 
     of about $3,000 per wind turbine, per year for twenty years 
     or more.

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I am disappointed we have not been able 
to get this completed. It is a matter of will. We understand there is 
wide support here and in the House. Bring it up, pass it on the floor 
of the Senate and the House, and send it to the President, so projects 
can go forward beginning tomorrow, next week, and next month. Skilled 
workers will find they are rehired by the companies. New jobs will be 
created. We will extend America's energy supply. It is exactly what we 
ought to do.
  For that reason, I intend to make unanimous consent requests that the 
Finance Committee be discharged and we bring up and pass S. 94, 
legislation to provide a 5-year extension of the tax credit for 
electricity produced from wind. I intend to come to the Chamber and 
talk about this--until I am more than a minor annoyance--to see if we 
can get people to understand we have a responsibility to act in the 
interests of this country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.

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