IER President Thomas Pyle published an op-ed in the Washington Examiner yesterday on the issue of the production tax credit for wind energy.
“The Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy is fast becoming the zombie of taxpayer nightmares. Every time you think this special interest giveaway is dead, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and his alliance of subsidy-hunting policymakers conduct a legislative séance and conjure it from the great beyond.
Just before recessing for the month of August, the Senate Finance Committee approved a plan extending tax incentives for wind and other renewables. Smarting from his recent challenge from a Tea Party-backed insurgent, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch seemed quick to forget its lesson as he supported the PTC extension. Now that he’s safe, he’s free to go back to his big-spending ways for another six years.
Congress has been supporting wind production since at least 1978 on the premise that wind is an infant industry that needs just a few more years of mother’s milk – i.e. taxpayer handouts — to be cost-competitive with more affordable and reliable sources of energy.”
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