AWEA (American Wind Energy Association) is in a snit over proposed legislation that would mandate federal tax credits be denied if a project doesn’t include products made in America.
The truth is, by law, Recovery Act grants can only be used to finance projects that are being built in the United States.
What AWEA ignores is the high number of foreign manufacturing jobs subsidized when most of the components of an American based wind farm are manufactured in China instead of the US.
Senator Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and three other Democratic senators have joined to propose legislation that would place limitations on the grant in lieu of tax credits for renewable energy projects under section 1603 of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The concern expressed by Senator Schumer and the other sponsors is that a significant portion of the grants paid so far have gone to non-U.S. companies.
The above quote is from an email sent by the firm of Stoel Rives who go on to deny the truth of the statement above. To read more on US tax dollars subsidizing foreign manufacturing jobs, look here and then read Michael Trebilcock’s argument against industrial wind turbines.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported in 2008, on a dollar per MWh basis, the U.S. government subsidizes wind at $23.34 – compared to reliable energy sources: natural gas at 25 cents; coal at 44 cents; hydro at 67 cents; and nuclear at $1.59, leading to what some U.S. commentators call “a huge corporate welfare feeding frenzy.”
Presently, China is the primary supplier of generators for traditional multi-megawatt wind farms. According to Rebecca Smith in the Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2009, a proposed 600MW wind farm in Texas relying heavily on federal subsidies, grants and tax credits for funding, is expected to create 2,800 jobs with only 15% of those jobs in the US and the rest flowing to China.
Write your Senator and Representative and ask them to support the Senator Schumer’s legislation.
