About 10,000 wind energy jobs -- from Ebensburg to western states -- expected to be lost this year

Sep 26 - Thomas Olson The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

 

Layoffs announced by wind turbine maker Gamesa Energy USA in Pennsylvania and Siemens Wind Power in two western states are among cutbacks that are on track to total about 10,000 jobs in the wind energy industry this year, the American Wind Energy Association said.

The association and the BlueGreen Alliance, a partnership of labor and environmental groups, are pressing Congress to extend a wind industry tax credit that otherwise will expire at year's end. It gives wind turbine operators that sell the electricity a 2.2 cent per kilowatt tax credit. Critics say the government can't afford the $11 billion wind energy subsidy.

In late August, Gamesa Energy laid off 165 at plants in Ebensburg and Bucks County. It cited dwindling demand for its products in the United States because of the endangered tax credit. Similarly, wind turbine maker Siemens Wind Power on Sept. 18 announced it would lay off more than 600 workers at plants in Iowa and Kansas.

"Embrace this technology or let good jobs like mine die," Ryan Motel, 26, a laid-off wind industry worker said at a news conference at the Energy Innovation Center in the Lower Hill District on Tuesday. He was part of the BlueGreen Alliance's kick-off of a four-state tour to gain support for the tax credits.

"I hope the folks in Congress will see my face and hear my voice," said Motel, of Hastings, Cambria County, who was laid off from his quality inspector job by Gamesa.

The wind industry employs nearly 4,000 people at about 150 companies in Pennsylvania, which is home to 16 wind farms in Somerset, Fayette and other counties.

Thomas Olson is a staff writer

for Trib Total Media. He can be reached a 412-320-7854 or at

tolson@tribweb.com.

triblive.com/news/