Congress Must Reject Attempts to Revive PTC

Plan to Extend PTC will Cost Billions of Dollars; Hike Electricity Bills

WASHINGTON – Congress is reportedly working on a tax extenders plan that includes a five-year extension of the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC). Some have called this deal a “phase out”—resembling the plan proposed by and lobbied for by GE just last year—but make no mistake, this is a five-year extension. The PTC, which expired last year, is a massive handout to large corporations to build and operate industrial wind facilities. The subsidy is so large that a two-year extension alone could transfer $10 billion over the next decade from taxpayers to the companies who get the credit.

“We cannot continue to prop up this industry on the backs of hardworking Americans,” said American Energy Alliance Thomas Pyle. “If Congress extends the PTC, they are handing out checks to large corporate welfare queens, advancing Obama’s climate agenda, and sticking consumers with higher electricity bills and less dependable electricity.”

Extending the PTC is a special interest giveaway to an industry that depends on government handouts to survive. A study by the Institute for Energy Research found electricity produced from new wind facilities is up to four times more expensive than from existing traditional sources, including nuclear and coal.

These two facts — that it’s corporate welfare and that wind produces unaffordable energy — should be reason enough for Congress to oppose the PTC. But it’s more than just another subsidy — it’s also central to President Obama’s climate agenda.

The centerpiece of this agenda is the Obama Administration’s new regulation on existing power plants, which would force states to fundamentally restructure their electricity sector. New wind and solar are so crucial to the mandate that the regulation establishes a coercive scheme that “rewards” states that agree to offer more subsidies for wind and solar.

By hiding wind power’s true cost, the PTC makes wind power seem more appealing to states that may need to comply with the Administration’s carbon regulation. This is how the PTC and Obama’s carbon agenda are mutually supportive and inseparable.

Simply put, Congress has an opportunity to take a principled stand against corporate welfare and the president’s climate agenda by rejecting an extension of the PTC.

The American Energy Alliance will score against any deal that includes a PTC extension. 

Click here to read more on why Congress should reject a PTC extension.

Click here to see which representatives oppose the PTC.

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