More than 450 businesses, companies and other organizations have signed and sent a letter urging Congress to immediately extend expired and expiring clean energy tax measures, including the renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC), before the end of this year.
"AWEA is proud to join this diverse coalition of companies and organizations working to grow clean energy and create jobs in the U.S.,” said Tom Kiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). "Extending these common-sense, successful federal tax policies means American workers can make more of our own energy right here in America."
These bipartisan tax provisions have a proven track record of helping scale up production and drive down the cost of clean energy technologies, including clean, affordable and homegrown wind power.
The U.S. is number one in the world in wind energy production and now produces enough power for 15.5 million American homes. Wind power's costs have dropped by more than half in the last five years according to the Wall Street firm Lazard.
On average American wind power attracts $15 billion dollars in private investment a year to our economy while supporting 73,000 well-paying jobs over the last five years. Growing American wind power has spurred the creation of a brand new domestic manufacturing sector with more than 500 factories in 43 states.