[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 159 (Tuesday, December 11, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7716-S7718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         WIND ENERGY TAX CREDIT

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I come to the floor again to 
urge my colleagues to extend the production tax credit for wind energy. 
I would like to note that on the heels of Senator Durbin's comments 
about China, we wish the Chinese energy industry well, but we do not 
want to outsource our wind energy jobs to China needlessly. We are on a 
path to do so.
  I see my colleague from Iowa here, Senator Grassley, who I know will 
speak later on the wind production tax credit, but it is going to 
expire in less than 1 month from now--December 31, to be specific--if 
we do not act. That means we are 1 month away from pulling the rug out 
from under an industry that is currently playing a key role in 
revitalizing American manufacturing, creating jobs, and powering our 
Nation. We are literally 1 month away from ending a credit that 
supports tens of thousands of workers right here in the United States.
  Each day that we wait to extend the PTC, we risk losing more good-
paying American jobs. We also risk doing away with a credit that is a 
major contributor to the success and development of our Nation's wind 
industry. This credit has helped companies leverage billions of 
dollars' worth of investments and created thousands of made-in-America 
manufacturing jobs.
  If history is any guide, allowing this critical tax credit to expire 
would be disastrous. The expiration of the PTC in 2000, 2002, and 2004 
led to massive drops in wind energy installation. Already in my home 
State of Colorado this year we have seen hundreds of layoffs across the 
Front Range due to our heel-dragging on the PTC.
  Each time I discuss the PTC on the Senate floor, I highlight a 
different State to show the vitality of the wind industry in that 
particular State, how this important credit has created jobs for that 
State's economy. Today I am here to talk about Iowa, America's 
heartland and the homeland of the PTC.
  In Iowa wind power is no longer an alternative source of energy. In 
fact, Iowa has become the Nation's No. 2 producer of wind energy, 
providing close to 20 percent of the State's electric power. Its 
potential is not even close to being fully tapped. Iowa's wind 
resources could someday produce up to 44 times the State's current 
electricity needs.
  Let me share some specifics with my colleagues. Nearly 3,000 turbines 
spin statewide in Iowa, and Iowa is home to various manufacturing 
facilities that produce wind turbines and components. The industry 
employs nearly 7,000 Iowans, half of whom are located at manufacturing 
facilities all across the State.

  Take, for example, Pocahontas County. We can see the map of Iowa 
here. There are a total of 216 wind turbines that have been constructed 
in Pocahontas County. When all turbines are

[[Page S7717]]

at full taxable value, they will contribute an estimated total of 
almost $190 million to the total county tax base. This means additional 
revenue for local budgets and additional money for investments in 
schools and critical community projects.
  Iowans know the possibilities and potential a continued investment in 
wind energy holds for their future. However, I wish to underline again 
that if we do not act, good-paying jobs will continue to be lost and an 
industry that is critical to our energy independence will be hit very 
hard.
  This is simply unacceptable. Already Siemens Energy is laying off 615 
workers in three States, including Iowa. The company Siemens has 
acknowledged that difficult market conditions are due to congressional 
inaction on the PTC.
  My colleagues from Iowa, Senators Grassley and Harkin, have been 
standing with me to fight for the renewal of the production tax credit. 
Senator Grassley is known as the father of the wind production tax 
credit. He led the charge some 20 years ago to establish this credit, 
and I applaud him and Senator Harkin for their work in the renewable 
energy sector and their dedication to extending this important credit. 
They know the PTC is a win for Iowa and a win for the United States. 
That is why it is so important--beyond important--to extend the PTC as 
soon as possible. The PTC equals jobs, and we ought to pass it as soon 
as possible.
  As my colleagues keep telling me and we hear from the American 
people, there is no reason to outsource these jobs. There is no reason 
to outsource energy production, and there is no reason to damage a 
growing industry that is helping America become energy independent. 
Congress needs to pass an extension of the production tax credit today. 
We can't wait any longer.
  Let's create jobs and build the clean energy economy of the future. 
Let's extend the wind production tax credit and let's do it now. It is 
that simple. The production tax credit equals jobs. Let's pass it ASAP.
  Again, I wish to acknowledge my colleague from Iowa, Senator 
Grassley, who has been a leader in this important policy area for the 
last 20 years.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I note the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, first of all, I had an opportunity to 
hear what Senator Udall of Colorado had to say about Iowa and my 
participation, and I thank him very much for his kind remarks.
  This year Senator Mark Udall is the champion of people speaking about 
the wind energy tax credit. I have spoken a few times, but he has 
spoken for every State that has a wind energy business. He has spoken 
many times more than I have, and I wish to compliment Senator Udall 
from Colorado for doing that.
  I think it is a foregone conclusion that after 20 years' of 
investment of taxpayer money in what we call the tax incentive for wind 
energy, and with the industry just about becoming a mature industry--
and there are different points of view within the industry, but in just 
a few years it will be starting to phase out--this wind energy tax 
credit can go away because it will be a mature industry much as the 
ethanol tax credit went away at the end of last year. So with this 
tremendous investment, it seems to me it would be a shame not to 
continue it so we can get to maturity, and then in a sense ratify the 
decision of the good investment of taxpayer money that has already been 
made.
  So today it is my privilege to join my colleague, Senator Udall of 
Colorado, on the floor of the Senate to discuss the importance of wind 
energy and the need to extend the production tax credit for wind. I 
appreciate Senator Udall's commitment to the production tax credit for 
wind energy. As I have said before, but I wish to say it again, he has 
come to the floor many times during the past several months to 
highlight the importance of wind energy in the various States. He has 
been a real leader on this issue.
  As Senator Udall has said, I have been a longtime supporter of the 
wind energy tax credit beginning with my authorship of the first wind 
production tax credit in 1992. At the time, I have to confess I didn't 
see coming, for my State or for the Nation as a whole, the big deal it 
has become not only in the production of wind energy and Iowa being No. 
2 in the Nation, but also the component manufacturing that goes on in 
most every State involved in wind energy, including my own State. 
Particularly, I didn't foresee, at a time when most of our talk about 
exporting jobs is actually exporting jobs, and in my State, at least 
from two countries, Spain and Germany, we have been able to import 
jobs--or I should say import the ability to create jobs through foreign 
investment--for the component manufacturing. So it has been a success 
in so many ways.
  Maybe one other point that ought to be emphasized at this time: Some 
Members--and maybe more Members in the other body--seem to be more 
cynical about any sort of investment in green energy because of 
Solyndra and other places where taxpayer money has gone in the way of 
grants and then there has been immediate bankruptcy, resulting in a 
waste of taxpayer money. There is absolutely no benefit from the wind 
energy tax credit unless energy is actually produced. So it is not 
going to be one of those situations where through taxpayer money, 
through a tax incentive, money is going to some company and not reaping 
the benefits of it, the end result in this case being the production of 
wind energy.
  The production tax credit for wind is working and should be a part of 
the effort in Washington to get more Americans working. Nationally, the 
wind energy industry supports 75,000 jobs. There are more than 400 
manufacturing facilities nationwide supplying wind components. Thirty-
five percent of all new electricity generation added during the last 5 
years was from wind, and this happens to be more than from coal and 
nuclear combined. Today, 60 percent of a wind turbine's value is 
produced in the United States, compared with just 25 percent in the 
year 2005.
  As I have said so often, my home State of Iowa is a leader in wind 
energy production and component manufacturing. Nearly 20 percent of 
Iowa's electricity needs are met from wind energy, powering the 
equivalent of 1 million homes. Almost 3,000 utility-scale turbines in 
Iowa generate lease payments to landowners, worth $14 million every 
year. Iowa is behind only Texas nationally in terms of installed wind 
capacity. The wind energy employs more than 6,000 Iowans. These jobs 
are at risk because Congress has so far failed to extend the production 
tax credit which is set to expire at the end of the year.
  In fact, hundreds of Iowans employed in wind energy have already been 
laid off because of slowing demand over uncertainty of tax credits, and 
there will be more laid off in my State except in one city where they 
are manufacturing components to go to Canada for use in wind energy in 
Canada. Certainty about tax policy and affordable energy, then, are 
factors for economic growth and getting unemployed workers back on the 
assembly line.
  As much energy as possible--both traditional and renewable--should be 
produced at home to create jobs and strengthen national security. Wind 
energy is obviously a free resource, and it is abundant in many places 
around the country. I suppose we could say wind is abundant every 
place, but at speeds that make the production of energy from wind cost-
effective.
  In my State, most of these facilities are in northwest Iowa where the 
wind averages about 14 miles per hour compared to going diagonally down 
to the southeast corner of the State where it averages about 8 miles 
per hour. So if there is enough constant wind, this is very definitely 
a free resource.
  Wind is also a homegrown resource. The electricity it generates is 
produced on local farms for local customers and often adds investment 
value to the community. A clean, renewable source such as wind is not 
dependent on faraway countries with leaders, in the case of petroleum, 
for instance, who happen to be so hostile to the United

[[Page S7718]]

States even as they take our energy dollars and maybe use those against 
us. That is why there is broad support for extending this worthwhile 
policy.
  Legislation in the House of Representatives to extend the production 
tax credit has 119 cosponsors, including 25 Republicans. In August the 
Senate Finance Committee, with a bipartisan vote, passed my extension 
of the wind energy production tax credit amendment I offered at that 
particular time.
  The Governors' Wind Energy Coalition and the Western Governors' 
Association have called for an extension of the production tax credit. 
The Western Governors' Association is an independent organization 
representing Governors of 19 States, and current membership includes 13 
Republicans and 6 Democratic Governors. So there is pretty broad 
bipartisan consensus among Governors that this ought to be extended.
  I was pleased to join a press conference a few weeks ago with Senator 
Mark Udall and over 40 military veterans representing Operation Free. 
They were visiting Capitol Hill to meet with Members of Congress, 
encouraging Congress to extend the wind production tax credit.
  The wind energy production tax credit was created to try to level the 
playing field with coal-fired and nuclear electricity generation. The 
production tax credit for wind is available only when wind energy is 
produced. There is no benefit for simply placing the turbine in the 
ground. It is a tax relief that rewards results, and that is much 
different than failed taxpayer-funded grants and loans made since 2009 
when a lot of that money went to companies that are now bankrupt.
  Those who want to do away with the wind energy tax incentive don't 
seem to mention that other forms of energy have received far more 
generous tax incentives for many decades longer than the wind energy 
industry. Oil and gas and nuclear power all received longstanding 
Federal support. I wish to emphasize, because I believe I read 
someplace, that one of the opponents of the wind energy tax credit 
being extended comes from nuclear.
  Do my colleagues think we would even have a nuclear industry in the 
United States since the 1950s or 1960s if it weren't for the Price 
Anderson Act that supports it as kind of a super--or an insurer of last 
resort? It would never have developed, and it is still in existence. 
Isn't it a little bit intellectually dishonest to say that wind should 
not have the tax incentive when other industries wouldn't even exist if 
they hadn't had it already?
  If we are going to have a discussion of which industries merit 
Federal support and which industries don't, the discussion needs to be 
intellectually honest. If we are having that discussion, everything 
needs to be on the table, not just wind energy. Can you think of 60 
extenders that are going to sunset at the end of this year? Only one--
wind--seems to be attacked right now.

  This extension deserves a place in our year-end package of tax 
extenders to help give confidence investors want and employers need to 
keep and hire workers.
  There is no reason to exacerbate the unemployment problem by failing 
to extend this successful incentive. America's security in the short- 
and long-term depends on a robust effort to develop domestic energy 
sources.
  Before I leave the floor, this can be done by the extender bill all 
by itself being passed or it can be, as we hope, that President Obama 
and Speaker Boehner have some sort of framework for us to put meat on 
that framework so we do not go over the cliff and have this bill be a 
part of it. When that whole fiscal cliff debate is about jobs, we do 
not want to forget about these 75,000 jobs that are in wind energy. A 
lot of these jobs have already led to some layoffs. We could bring 
those people back to work pretty fast.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Manchin). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. JOHANNS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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