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“THE WIND ENERGY PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT SHOULD BE EXTENDED” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Senate section on pages S1237-S1238 on Feb. 27, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE WIND ENERGY PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT SHOULD BE EXTENDED
Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, about a week ago I spoke briefly on a subject that falls under the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee and that is referred to as the extenders. This term does not mean much to people, but the extenders are tax provisions that expire at certain times. For example, at the end of last year one of the tax provisions that expired was the wind energy production tax credit. It is a tax credit that was in law to stimulate the development of wind energy in our country.
That tax credit expired on December 31 and, at that moment, the development pretty well stopped because the expectation was that the credit would be extended, but it has not been extended. This credit is one of a handful of extenders that should have been extended at the end of last year. The Congress did not do it, because it got connected to the issue of the economic recovery package, and it went back and forth between the House and the Senate.
The fact is, at the end of the day, this tax provision expired and wind energy development has pretty well stopped around the country. By
``wind energy development,'' I mean those developments that were on the books with plans underway, and ready to be financed and installed across the country.
What does this wind energy mean? We are going to take up an energy bill as soon as we figure out what to do with the filibuster on the election reform bill, and when we talk about the energy bill in this country we talk about the need to produce additional energy: more oil, more natural gas, more coal. Yes, we are going to produce more by digging and drilling, and do that in an environmentally acceptable way. But limitless and renewable sources of energy such as ethanol, biodiesel, wind energy, and others, are also a very important part of what we ought to be doing in this country.
Let me focus for a moment on wind energy, because I come from a State in which wind energy has great potential. The Department of Energy ranks the States and their potential for wind energy, and North Dakota ranks No. 1. We are called the Saudi Arabia of wind for its energy potential.
North Dakota is a lot of things. Most of all, it is wonderful. It ranks 50th, dead last, in native forest lands. That means we have less trees than anybody else. But we have a ranking of No. 1 in wind and the ability to take the energy from the wind, put it in transmission lines, and move it around our country to extend America's energy supply.
I held a wind energy conference in Grand Forks, ND, last week. Over 700 people came to the conference from all over the country. They had a display of a couple of the types of blades used in the new, very large turbines. One of these blades weighs 18,000 pounds.
This new technology is highly efficient and, with the small production tax credit, is also very competitive. We have brought the price of wind energy way down, and now if we extend this wind energy tax credit for 5 years, we will be able to unleash the opportunities in wind energy development.
A CEO of a company came to see me about 2 weeks ago and said his company has 150 megawatts of wind-generated electricity on the books and prepared to build in North Dakota. He told me the company has the money for it, $130 million to $150 million, the plans complete, but that it cannot move forward until the company knows whether Congress is going to extend the wind energy production tax credit.
The fact is, the Congress is messing around back and forth, stuttering, and not getting it done. This back and forth between the House and the Senate means the extenders did not get finished.
What does that mean? It means companies that were preparing investments and were going to be able to build wind energy facilities across this country have now put these plans on hold.
Does that make sense for the country? Is that a good energy strategy? I do not think so.
I am going to be asking unanimous consent, and I will not do it at the moment because I wanted to provide notice to others in the Chamber as a matter of courtesy, but I will ask either later today or tomorrow, unanimous consent to take up the legislation that I have previously introduced, S. 94. It provides a 5-year extension of the tax credit for electricity produced from wind. I will ask that it be discharged from the Senate Finance Committee and be brought to the floor and voted on.
This is not controversial. We have done this before. We should have done it last December but did not. It does not require a big debate. We have had debate after debate on this. It is widely supported by virtually the entire Senate and the entire House, but it does not get done. It is one of these things that runs off the ditch and gets stuck there, and nobody thinks much about it.
The problem is we are not producing the energy we could be producing, because these projects are not being built. As we get people in the Senate who ring their hands and gnash their teeth and wipe their brow about America's energy problems, I want everybody to understand that part of the solution--just part--to that problem is to build these projects that are ready to go, that can produce and create these new highly efficient wind energy turbines, that can put electricity in our transmission lines and move it around the country.
Does anybody remember California and the price spikes, some of the other problems we have experienced with energy supply? The fact is, this country needs this new form of energy.
I would like to talk for an hour about ethanol, biodiesel, and other limitless and renewable sources of energy. One of the big oil companies once said that ethanol is no good, that it will not work. I saw it in a quarter-page ad in a daily newspaper, and I thought, well, if the big oil companies say this is not any good, it must be something we ought to take a closer look at: Taking the alcohol from a kernel of corn--you get a drop of alcohol from a kernel of corn--and you still have the protein feedstock left. One can use that alcohol to help contribute to America's energy supply. That makes good sense to me. But taking energy from the wind and running it through a turbine, through blades that turn, and then moving the electricity to the transmission lines, makes eminent good sense.
There is no excuse at all for this Congress to twiddle its thumbs when it ought to extend these production tax credits for wind energy. It ought to be done not next week, not next month, not next year; it ought to be done now. It ought to be done for 5 years. If we get people to come out and say first let's not do it, I say they are not thinking much about America's energy needs.
If they say let's do it for a year, I say it will not matter. It will not mean a thing. That will not provide enough of an incentive for anybody to do anything. Let us give people an opportunity to plan, to do the right thing. Let us give people the opportunity and the incentive to build, to extend America's energy supplies.
I am intending to offer that unanimous consent request either later today or tomorrow and would want to put people on notice of that.
Let me, if I might, read a couple of examples of what has happened because Congress did not do what it should do. Lonestar Transportation of Fort Worth, TX, is losing $1.5 million in revenue per month due to the delay of this production tax credit. Trinity Industries of Dallas, TX, a builder of wind turbine towers, has furloughed 200 workers and projects a revenue loss of $7 million a month. MFG, a builder of fiberglass turbine blades located in Gainesville, TX, laid off 138 skilled workers. Georgia and Texas: CAB, Inc. of Oakwood, GA, and also in Texas, that manufactures steel tower components, will see a 50-
percent reduction in revenues because of failure to extend this. In Oregon, investment will not be made in a multimillion-dollar wind turbine manufacturing facility for Portland. DMI Industries in my State of North Dakota, a tower manufacturer in West Fargo, will likely see a 25-percent decrease in revenues. The company currently employs 165 people and was planning to hire an additional 50. They will not be able to do that at this point. LM Glasfiber, a wind turbine blade manufacturer in Grand Forks, has furloughed 30 percent of its 100 employees because of failure to extend the tax credit. In Louisiana, Beaird Industries of Shreveport, LA, a builder of metal towers for wind turbines, furloughed 150 of its 500 employees just before Christmas. Zond Wind Turbines in California near Bakersfield furloughed 85 skilled workers. In West Virginia, Atlantic Renewable Energy Corporation will indefinitely delay a $65 million investment in its Backbone Mountain site in Tucker County. That is 150 construction jobs. M.A. Mortenson Company of Minneapolis, MN, that designs and builds wind tower projects throughout the United States, will hold off creating 150 direct construction jobs and 450 subcontractor jobs without the extension.
The list goes on. I ask unanimous consent to have this printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Economic Development Foregone Due to Delay in Extending the Wind Energy
Production Tax Credit (PTC)
In 2001 the wind industry installed nearly 1,700 megawatts
(MW) of new capacity spurring more than $1.7 billion in direct economic activity.
For this level of economic activity to continue in 2002, Congress must pass a multi-year extension of the wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) immediately. Failure to do so would forego billions in economic activity and thousands of jobs such as . . .
Texas: Lonestar Transportation of Ft. Worth, TX is losing
$1.5 million in revenue per month due to the PTC delay. Last year the company earned $20 million--a full 20 percent of company revenues--by trucking wind turbine towers, blades, and generating units to development sites. Contact: David Ferebee, V.P. of Sales at 1-800-541-8271.
Trinity Industries of Dallas, TX, a builder of wind turbine towers, has furloughed 200 workers and projects a revenue loss of $7 million per month (or $84 million over 12 months) until the PTC is extended. Contact: John Miller at 512-322-0299.
MFG, a builder of fiberglass turbine blades located in Gainsville, laid off 138 skilled workers upon notification that Congress had not extended the wind tax credit.
Georgia and Texas: CAB, Inc. of Oakwood, GA and Nacogdoches, TX, a manufacturer of steel tower components will likely see a 50 percent reduction in revenues with workforce reductions of 30-40%. Contact: Ms. Terri Jondahl, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, at 888-241-7312, www.cabinc.com.
Oregon: Investment will not be made in a multi-million dollar wind turbine manufacturing facility for Portland that would have provided as many as 1,000 jobs.
North Dakota: DMI Industries, a tower manufacturer in West Fargo, ND, will likely see a 25 percent decrease in revenues
(about $15 million) in 2002 without an early PTC extension. The company currently employs 165 people and planned to hire an additional 50. Contact: Chuck Savageau, Business Development Manager at 701-282-6959,
[email protected]
LMGlasfiber, a wind turbine blade manufacturer in Grand Forks has furloughed 30 percent of its more than 100 employees because of failure to extend the wind tax credit. Had the tax credit been extended last year, the company would have ramped up to 200 jobs. Contact: Craig Hoiseth, President, LM Glasfiber, 701-780-9910.
Louisiana: Beaird Industries of Shreveport, LA--a builder of metal towers for wind turbines--furloughed 150 of its 500 employees just before Christmas 2001 because failure to extend the wind tax credit resulted in no new orders for towers. Last year the company built 800 steel towers for wind turbines. Contact: Alberto Garcia, VP for Sales at 318-865-6351.
California: Zond wind turbines, manufactured near Bakersfield, CA, have furloughed 85 skilled workers because failure to extend the PTC has caused a halt in orders for new turbines. Contact: Robert ``Hap'' Boyd at 213-452-5103.
West Virginia: Without an immediate PTC extension Atlantic Renewable Energy Corp. will indefinitely delay a $65 million investment in its Backbone Mountain site in Tucker County. This project would provide about 150 construction jobs and as many as 6 permanent operations and maintenance jobs. Contact: Sam Enfield of Atlantic Renewable Energy Corporation at 301-407-0424.
Minnesota: M.A. Mortenson Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota a design/build contractor of wind power projects throughout the United States will have to hold off on creating up to 150 direct construction jobs and 450 subcontractor jobs in 2002 without the PTC extension. The loss in revenue to M.A. Mortenson Company will be up to $70,000,000 in 2002. Contact Jerry Grundtner, General Manager, at 763-387-5513.
Farm Economy: Net farm earnings are expected to drop by 20 percent his year (from $49.3 billion to $40.6 billion) according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Extending the PTC expeditiously will pump significant additional income into the farm economy by allowing more farms to host wind turbines. Wind developers provide lease payments to farmers of about $3,000 per wind turbine, per year for twenty years or more.
Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I am disappointed we have not been able to get this completed. It is a matter of will. We understand there is wide support here and in the House. Bring it up, pass it on the floor of the Senate and the House, and send it to the President, so projects can go forward beginning tomorrow, next week, and next month. Skilled workers will find they are rehired by the companies. New jobs will be created. We will extend America's energy supply. It is exactly what we ought to do.
For that reason, I intend to make unanimous consent requests that the Finance Committee be discharged and we bring up and pass S. 94, legislation to provide a 5-year extension of the tax credit for electricity produced from wind. I intend to come to the Chamber and talk about this--until I am more than a minor annoyance--to see if we can get people to understand we have a responsibility to act in the interests of this country.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
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