Senate lawmakers voted 63-32 against the innocuously-named "Environmentally Responsible Wind Power Act of 2005" trumpeted by U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) The item could have been rolled into the broad energy bill currently under consideration in Congress and it would have had immediate and devastating effects on the U.S. wind power industry, according to industry sources.
The bill took square aim at the wind industry's coveted Production Tax Credit (PTC), the on-again, off-again tax credit that is the federal government's primary support mechanism to level wind power's playing field with the traditional energy industries. The bill would have wiped out the availability of the PTC to any wind project located within 20 miles of a coastline, military base, national park or other highly scenic area. It would also have allowed a neighboring state to veto any wind project proposed within 20 miles of that state's border.
