Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today urged his colleagues to quickly pass an extension of the wind energy production tax credit (PTC) following a report released today by Environment America that shows how current power generation from wind energy prevents as much pollution as taking 13 million cars off the road each year. In Colorado alone, it displaces as much pollution as taking 525,000 cars off the road every year.
“This report underscores the PTC’s importance to protecting our air, land and water as well as to the tens of thousands of jobs in Colorado and across the country,” Bennet said. “The wind PTC has bipartisan support and is an economic driver that is critical to jobs and a clean and diverse energy portfolio in this country. It should be extended immediately.”
Environment America released the new report, Wind Power for a Cleaner America: Reducing Global Warming Pollution, Cutting Air Pollution and Saving Water, at more than 30 events nationwide, standing with farmers, public health professionals, wind power businesses and local elected officials to tout wind energy’s environmental benefits.
Colorado is a wind energy leader, currently generating the third highest percentage of power from wind of any state in the nation. Colorado is home to several major wind energy developers and wind turbine manufacturing facilities, employing upwards of 6,000 workers statewide.
Nationally, expiration of the wind production tax credit could cost as many as 37,000 jobs, according to the American Wind Energy Association.