Group is giving voice to backers of wind credit

Oct 12 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Ken Stephens The Hutchinson News, Kan.

 

With the wind industry bleeding jobs in anticipation of the expiration of a tax credit at the end of the year, the Climate + Energy Project, a Kansas-based nonprofit group advocating renewable energy, is seeking to turn up the heat on the state's four U.S. representatives opposed to renewing the tax credit.

Through a blog, social media and email, the Climate + Energy Project is trying to gather the signatures of at least 5,000 Kansans urging Reps. Tim Huelskamp, Mike Pompeo, Kevin Yoder and Lynn Jenkins to change their minds and support an extension of the production tax credit.

Kate Van Cantfort, communications director for Climate + Energy Project, said the organization began the campaign the week after Siemens Wind Power announced that it would be laying off 256 of the 408 workers at its Hutchinson nacelle plant because uncertainty about whether the tax credit would be available had caused a steep drop in orders in 2013. Other wind industry businesses across the nation also are laying off workers, about 11,000 direct jobs lost so far, Van Cantfort said.

"This is not a theoretical impact," Van Cantfort said. "It's real."

So far, she said, more than 600 "households" had signed the letter, which can be signed electronically online at http://blog.climateandenergy.org. The letter also can be reached through Climate + Energy Project's Facebook page.

Siemens employees, Van Cantfort said, are separately circulating their own letter to the Kansas congressional delegation.

The production tax credit, currently scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, doesn't go directly to manufacturing companies like Siemens. Instead, utilities earn tax credits based on the kilowatt hours of electricity generated by wind farms. Companies like Siemens benefit because the tax credit makes their wind turbines a better buy for utilities by making the cost of electricity generated by wind more competitive with that generated by natural gas, the price of which is exceptionally low at this time.

Gov. Sam Brownback and the state's two senators, Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts, have said they favor an extension of the tax credit and a gradual phase-out over several years. Last week the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce urged renewal of the credit for five years, with a 20 percent reduction in the credit each year.

The Climate + Energy Project's letter begins by saying that "the livelihood of thousands of Kansans is impacted by the wind industry" and says the production tax credit "more than pays for itself through job creation, tax revenue and economic development in rural Kansas."

"Failure to extend the PTC will lead to thousands of jobs lost," the letter adds. "It turns back the clock on progress here in Kansas, as underscored by Siemens' recent announcement of layoffs at its Hutchinson facility. Kansans know that a job is a job and that ANY project that brings jobs to our state as well as economic security and a brighter future for our communities deserves support. Now more than ever we need our political leaders to fight for our economic livelihood."

Van Cantfort said her organization decided to draft and circulate the letter because people were frustrated that there didn't seem to be anything they could do. Unlike descending on a local retail store to buy something to help save the business, they can't go out and buy a multimillion-dollar wind turbine. So Climate + Energy Project decided to organize a way for them to raise their voices and send a message to their elected officials.

Because the wind to turn turbines is abundant and reliable in Kansas, Van Cantfort said, the state could become the Silicon Valley of the wind industry.

"If there is any time we've needed our elected officials to have some vision about our economy, it's now," Van Cantfort said.

 

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