For Immediate Release: January 2, 2013
MONTPELIER, VT – Today President Obama will sign into law a bill that extends key tax credits for wind power and averts the ‘fiscal cliff.’ The main federal incentives for wind power – the renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the offshore wind Investment Tax Credit (ITC) – expired on December 31, 2012, but with today’s new law will now be available for wind power projects that start construction over the next year, allowing for continued growth of wind energy in Vermont and across the country.
VPIRG executive director Paul Burns released the following statement:
“President Obama and clean energy champions like Sen. Leahy, Sen. Sanders and Rep. Welch deserve a great deal of credit for making sure – even in these hectic closing days of the session – that our health and our environment was protected by extending critical tax credits for wind energy.
“Wind powers nearly 13 million homes across the country, and now over 45,000 homes in Vermont with the Lowell and Georgia Mountain projects online. That makes wind an essential part of the solution to our energy needs in Vermont.
“It’s good to know that even amidst all of the dysfunction and partisan bickering in Congress, there is still broad agreement over the health and environmental benefits of renewable wind energy.”
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