The carbon tax debate continues in the US Congress as sponsors and stakeholders assert carbon-pricing legislation would address the most challenging, and interrelated, problems facing the US today. Amounting to a tax on carbon emissions, the discussion draft’s sponsors are soliciting public feedback on how best to allocate proceeds.
The wind power tax credit extensions have been passed in bi-partisan fashion by a 19-5 vote as part of broader tax cut extension bill. Greeted with guarded optimism by US wind power market and industry participants and supporters, some of the largest US electric utilities, including Exelon, are lobbying against further progress. […]
The US wind energy industry can create and save 54,000 jobs, including expanding the wind energy manufacturing sector by 1/3 to 46,000 jobs, according to the results of a study completed by Navigant Consulting. That’s given a stable federal tax policy that includes extending the existing wind energy production tax credit (PTC) for another four years. The AWEA, along with US manufacturing industry groups, labor unions and environmental groups, is pushing for Congress to pass recently introduced legislation that would extend the PTC through 2016.
