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Sierra Club Applauds Inclusion of Wind Production Tax Credit in Fiscal Deal
Extension Will Protect 30,000 Wind Industry Jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, after several weeks of budget negotiations, Congress passed legislation that will extend the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for wind energy for one year. The extension of the wind tax credit, as well as changes to the eligibility requirements, will allow the wind industry to resume its strong growth and hire back many of the workers who were laid off in the past year.
In response, Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club issued the following statement:
“The Sierra Club thanks President Obama and Senators Reid and Baucus for fighting to include an extension of the Wind Production Tax Credit in the final budget package. The extension of this critical tax incentive will put thousands of Americans back to work, and will ensure that the wind industry continues to provide clean, renewable energy to our homes and businesses.
“While we are disappointed that the final budget package only allows Bush era tax cuts to expire for Americans making $450,000 or more annually -- rather than the $250,000 threshold that was originally proposed -- the renewal of the PTC will re-energize clean energy growth and jobs.
“Over the past year, the Sierra Club has worked with thousands of grassroots activists across the country to hold their members of Congress accountable for their failure to prevent wind worker layoffs in their hometowns. We are pleased that this latest barrier to protecting clean energy jobs in America has been overcome, and we will continue our work to ensure that our nation creates jobs and a secure climate future with clean energy.”
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