Celebrating Wind Week
This week, elected officials, business leaders, industry experts, and labor and environmental groups came together for "Wind Week" -- a week of action aimed at urging Congress to protect American jobs and renew the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) before December 31st.
The wind industry supports 75,000 jobs across all fifty states, but if the tax credit is allowed to expire, approximately half of these jobs will be lost. Already, the failure of Congress to renew the tax credit has led to more than 3,600 jobs lost this year as companies delay or cancel plans for new wind installations and factories.
To kick off Wind Week, the Sierra Club took over the Capitol South Metro Station in Washington, DC with bold new ads that show the importance of renewing the wind Production Tax Credit. The ads are part of Sierra Club's larger Wind Works campaign, and come on the heels of TV, radio, and billboard ads urging legislators to demand action to renew the tax credit.
On Wednesday, the The BlueGreen Alliance and The Heinrich Boll Foundation kicked off their multi-state tour, highlighting the potential of offshore wind along the Atlantic Coast, by holding a bipartisan, bicameral Congressional briefing hosted by Delaware Senator Carper and Maine Senator Snowe and the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Caucus. Panelists included Dr. Joachim Lohse, Senator for Environment, Construction and Transportation of the City-State of Bremen and Bremerhaven, Germany, Jim Lanard, President of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition, and Roxanne Brown of United Steelworkers. Other stops on the tour will include meetings with key stakeholders in state and local governments in Annapolis, Maryland and Albany, New York.
Throughout the week, a number of organizations including Environmental Entrepreneurs, Voices for Progress, and Oceana have been holding numerous meetings with members of Congress, urging for an extension of the PTC. Additionally, Oceana, the largest international organization focused solely on ocean conservation, dropped off photo petitions in support of extending the wind tax credit.
Finally, many Congressional champions, including Senator Udall and members of the House’s Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, have been making floor speeches in support of the PTC.
You can check out some of the speeches here.
It’s exciting to see the broad, bi-partisan support from industry, labor, environmentalists and decision-makers, who have come together to advocate on behalf of the wind industry. We hope members of Congress hear their message and ensure that the PTC is renewed before the December 31 deadline.
-- Lauren Randall, Beyond Coal Media Assistant