Will Snowe and Collins to Stand by their No Votes on Industry Subsidies in the Tax Bill?

On December 4th, Senators Snowe and Collins voted against an amendment to the Federal Tax Relief bill that would have given away billions of dollars in Public subsidies to industrial wind development corporations.

That amendment was brought forth by Senator Max Baucus of Montana, as part of the Federal Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. The Senator has vowed to see the multibillion dollar 1603 cash grant program extended for so-called “renewable” energy developments.

The 1603 program has favored big wind, giving the industry almost 86% of the Public grant money, with less than 1 percent of the funds going to small scale wind. The program has already provided over a billion dollars in subsidies to the massive Spanish energy corporation that owns CMP, Iberdrola Renewables.

First Wind received over $40 million for its Stetson development through this subsidy, at a rate of $2,365 per kilowatt, with at 30.8% estimated capacity factor, according to the "Preliminary Evaluation of the Impact of the Section 1603 Treasury Grant Program on Renewable Energy Deployment in 2009," at http://eetdnews.lbl.gov/nl31/eetd-nl31-6-recoveryact.html.

First Wind received over $40 million for its Stetson development through this subsidy, at a rate of $2,365 per kilowatt, with at 30.8% estimated capacity factor, according to the "Preliminary Evaluation of the Impact of the Section 1603 Treasury Grant Program on Renewable Energy Deployment in 2009," at http://eetdnews.lbl.gov/nl31/eetd-nl31-6-recoveryact.html.

Details of Section 1603 Federal Grants: http://www.stoel.com/shownews.aspx?Show=7045

The Baucus amendment, SA 4727, would have extended the 1603 subsidy until December 2011.
When the amendment failed in the December 4th vote, the wind industry lobby launched a campaign, claiming the end of the grant program would result in tens of thousands of lost jobs. An interesting claim when it comes to long term business planning, since the industry has known for years that December 31, 2010 was the scheduled end date of the grant program.

Less than two weeks after the defeat of the Baucus amendment, a new amendment to put the subsidies back in the bill was introduced by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada.

That amendment, SA 4753, is intended "to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, to amend title 49, United States Code, to extend authorizations for the airport improvement program, and for other purposes."

The "other purposes" include providing billions of dollars in subsidies to developers of select large scale

"renewable energy", ethanol, and biofuel projects. These are included in Title VII of the amendment.

Read the text of Reid's bill, The Reid-McConnell Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act:

http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/14BFFC74-3741-4324-8829-D1ADD2D1C064/




While Snowe and Collins voted against the Baucus amendment, but they are being pressured to support the Reid amendment, with the threat that Democrats won't support a bill that doesn't include the subsidies for these developers.


The Senators' records indicate that they'd be easily swayed to support the subsidy, considering the fact that Snowe has supported these subsidies in the past, and Collins has posted on her website, "The tax incentives for renewable energy sources like wind and solar are set to expire at the end of this year. It is imperative that Congress pass an extension of these tax incentives to continue to provide an impetus for investments in these technologies.”


With that in mind, it could be important for Snowe and Collins to hear from constituents encouraging them to stick with their original votes and not cave to industry lobbying pressure.


Contact information for representatives: http://congress.org/congressorg/bio/id/283


More on Snowe's record: http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.Press...


Collins' stance: http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=Home.AtHom...]



Incidentally, Senator Baucus has justified the need for these subsidies by claiming they are necessary to support GoldWind in his home state of Montana. First Wind vice-president and chief financial officer Tim Rosenzweig was recently appointed CEO of Goldwind USA. The founder of First Wind, Bryan Caffyn personally oversaw the establishment and construction of the largest wind energy company in Italy, Italian Vento Power Corporation.


That company's head and Caffyn's former business partner Oreste Vigorito was arrested last year as part of a sting resulting from the involvement of the mob with green energy developments. Vigorito was charged with fraud resulting from his company receiving millions of dollars in Public subsidies to build wind farms that didn't work.


Read more on UPC and First Wind Taking Advantage of Public Subsidies:

http://paintmainered.ning.com/profiles/blogs/why-an-82-year-old-mai...


Tell Congress - No Billions for Big Wind:

http://www.windaction.org/articles/30304