If congressional action is the proposed method to solve policy issues on climate and taxes, my usual advice is to draft a Plan B. In this realm, Congress is like that annoying friend who’s always a day late and a dollar short – reliably unreliable. Unfortunately, when it comes to the future of offshore wind in America there is no Plan B. Congress holds the cards.
The Federal Investment Tax Credit for offshore wind (ITC) is being mulled by Congress. (Well technically, Congress isn’t mulling anything as of this writing due to a hyper-partisan government shutdown). The ITC currently has 14 co-sponsors in the Senate and 79 co-sponsors in the House, including Virginia representatives Moran, Scott, and Connolly. This is the most important piece of offshore wind legislation we may see for some time.
The current version of the ITC is set to expire on December 31st, 2013. If Congress refuses to act and extend this bill, we will significantly delay the progress towards an offshore wind industry and the clean energy future we’ve envisioned. This new bill would provide a 30% tax credit for the first 3,000 MW of offshore wind placed in service nationwide. Thus, fast movers in the offshore wind industry would be encouraged to move expeditiously in a race to grab a piece of the pie. Simply put, an offshore wind industry will not take off in America without this important financing mechanism.
Similar versions of land-based wind tax credits have been extended in the past several years with broad support (albeit almost always within a few short days before the previous version expired). Ask my friends in Iowa and Texas about the value of these tax credits to their states. The bustling wind industry in these and other states has been a boon to their economy and has helped lower our carbon footprint.
Congress, without a second thought, has provided billions of dollars in tax incentives to the fossil-fuel industry for decades. These moves have resulted in rising greenhouse gas emissions and disastrous health and environmental impacts. Yet, the D.C. machine keeps doling out these tax incentives as reliably as the rising sun.
When it comes to doing what’s right for our clean energy future, Congress has been mute. So far, they haven’t been moved by projections that show Virginia adding 10,000 full-time career-length jobs to our economy if offshore wind were fully developed. They can’t comprehend the possibilities of the future, reports that state 700,000 homes in Virginia could be powered with the resources available off Virginia’s coast – blustering, reliable Class 6 winds.
Congress needs to realize this potential. A clean energy future is within our grasps. European nations have been powering their homes and businesses with this renewable resource since 1991. America has been late to the party. But it’s not too late to show up, innovate, and develop this important clean energy resource. It’s high-time for Congress to take a stand for offshore wind by passing this bill. Congress needs to act.
