Source: Florida News Connection, by Stephanie Carroll Carson..
The GE Wind Turbine Plant in Pensacola has 500 employees. Now, their jobs and those of thousands of others could be in jeopardy because Congress has stalled on a decision about the production tax credit for the wind industry.
Larry Thomas, general manager of Energy Hardware, manufactures supplies for GE and others in the wind industry. He says renewable energies should be supported as is the fossil-fuel industry.
“There’s permanent tax credits that have always been in place for coal and oil. Can we grab some of that that’s already permanent? Can that be used over here on the renewable side?”
Extending the tax credit has bipartisan support, and members of both parties are pushing for a swift extension of the temporary credit. But there are also calls to let it expire.
Even though the tax credit doesn’t expire until year’s end, Thomas says, the uncertainty is stalling job orders.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, letting the tax credit expire will eliminate approximately 37,000 jobs nationwide. Phyllis Cuttino, director of the Pew Environment Group’s Clean Energy Program, says Congress needs to realize the impact this uncertainty is having on the market.
“Causing this kind of turmoil and uncertainty in a market is completely unnecessary. There’ve been really no new orders for wind, and that is going to have a significant impact on jobs.”
For example, Cuttino says, a wind-turbine manufacturer in Pennsylvania will lay off 30 percent of its workforce if the tax credit isn’t extended.
