[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 17073-17074]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         WIND ENERGY TAX CREDIT

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I come to the Senate floor once 
again to urge my colleagues to act on extending the production tax 
credit for wind, otherwise known as the PTC.
  If we let the production tax credit, the PTC, expire in the next 18 
days--we literally have 18 days before it does expire--that expiration 
has the potential to cost our economy thousands of good-paying middle-
class jobs. We just can't let that happen. Tens of thousands of 
Americans who work in the wind industry are depending on us to extend 
this important tax credit and in doing so save jobs and encourage 
investment in more States, such as my State of Colorado and the State 
of the Presiding Officer, New Mexico. If we fail to extend the PTC, we 
risk jeopardizing not only our economic growth but also our capacity, 
our potential, our ability to continue leading the world in the 
development and use of clean energy technology.
  I have come to the floor over 25 times to speak about this issue, and 
each time I do, I highlight a different State and what the PTC has done 
to encourage economic growth. Today I am really pleased to be able to 
speak about the great State of New Mexico, the State of the Presiding 
Officer; their wind resources rank 10th in the United States. New 
Mexico is an impressive example of how wind can be harnessed to create 
good-paying jobs, support local communities, and produce American-grown 
power.
  I wish to speak specifically about various areas in New Mexico. New 
Mexico has eight counties with wind projects, as my colleagues can see 
from the map here. The largest one is the New Mexico Wind Energy 
Center. It straddles Quay County and DeBaca County, which is located in 
the eastern central part of the State, in this area here. This is a 
very impressive project, as the Presiding Officer knows since it is his 
home State. It opened in 2003. It runs 136 turbines and produces 200 
megawatts of power. Located 170 miles south of Albuquerque, it produces 
enough electricity to power 95,000 New Mexico homes, which is almost 
half of all the homes powered by wind in the State. So this is an 
impressive project. The Presiding Officer has probably visited the site 
and knows firsthand.
  In terms of jobs, wind projects employ 500 New Mexicans around the 
State, and these are really good-paying jobs. We have seen all across 
the country that investment in wind power is really an investment in 
the middle class and support for what makes our country great, which is 
building our economy from the middle out. These jobs are found across 
the ledger, if you will, including operations, maintenance, 
construction, and manufacturing, as well as the many support sectors. 
Of course, we know that when we have a fundamental, core business such 
as this, it creates a ripple effect. There are a lot of other small 
businesses that take root.

[[Page 17074]]

  New Mexico--and I don't have to tell the Presiding Officer, but I 
will tell him anyway--has two outstanding Senators, outstanding 
leaders, and they are Senator Bingaman and Senator Tom Udall. Those two 
Senators have championed the renewable energy sector, and they 
understand the significance of the production tax credit.
  I particularly wish to mention Senator Bingaman, who is the chairman 
of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He has continued to 
press the Congress on the need to extend the PTC. I know we are going 
to see a package come forward that will have other clean energy tax 
credits in it. I am a member of the Energy Committee as well. I have 
that great honor. I really want to tell all of us in the country that 
we are going to lose a renewable energy champion when Senator Bingaman 
retires in just a few weeks.
  Let me turn back to the potential in New Mexico for wind energy 
development. As I understand it, to pass this means that if we fully 
develop the wind resource in New Mexico, we could provide nearly 75 
times New Mexico's current electricity needs. That is an enormous 
number. It is why we need, by the way, a grid upgrade, because when New 
Mexico harvests all that wind, we are going to send that energy to 
places such as Tucson and Phoenix, probably into Texas, and maybe all 
the way to the west coast.
  Let me turn back again to the need to extend this tax credit. If we 
do not extend it--again, we have just over 2 weeks to extend it--we 
risk not only losing jobs but the momentum we have developed toward 
achieving true energy security and economic growth.
  Already, because of inaction in the Congress over this last year, we 
have seen Americans laid off in the wind energy industry. Clean energy 
plays a crucial role in creating new jobs and electricity production. 
We cannot risk losing more good-paying American jobs. Some studies 
suggest that if we let the PTC expire, we are going to lose half the 
wind energy industry, which would fall from 75,000 jobs to something on 
the order of 37,000 jobs. This is not acceptable.
  We cannot let the production tax credit expire. We need to pass it as 
soon as possible. It is simple: The PTC equals jobs. We need to pass it 
as soon as possible.
  Think about countries such as China and Germany. They are continuing 
to expand their wind industries and renewable energy sectors. If we do 
not support our wind energy industry here and the wind manufacturing 
facilities, we are effectively offshoring and exporting those jobs. Our 
global competitors are not hesitating. They are encouraging wind power 
development, and they know the longer we fail to act, literally, the 
more wind they can steal from our sails.
  So enough is enough. This is an American industry. It needs to 
continue to be an American industry. But we risk everything--literally 
everything--if we let the PTC lapse in 18 days. So let's focus on this 
made-in-America potential. Through it, we can obtain energy 
independence, we can ensure energy security, and we can keep jobs in 
New Mexico and Colorado and Minnesota and New York--every State in our 
great country. So let's not wait any longer. Let's continue to build 
this clean energy economy right here in the United States. Let's do it 
today. The PTC equals jobs. Let's pass it as soon as possible.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Minnesota.

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