Senate package carries wind aid By Gerry Gilmour The Forum - 05/13/2004 Wind energy development incentives rode the coattails of a $170 billion corporate tax bill approved 92-5 Tuesday by the U.S. Senate. Production tax credits ö deemed vital by industry experts for more wind farm development in North Dakota ö were among $14 billion in new tax breaks for energy included in the bill. "We're pretty excited," Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Association in Washington, said Wednesday. "We're excited to see progress of any kind." The industry has come to a near standstill as it awaits renewal of federal tax credits, which expired Dec. 31. DMI Industries of West Fargo, which makes wind towers, and LM Glasfiber of Grand Forks, N.D., which makes turbine blades, rely on orders from Canadian developers to stay in business. AWEA announced Wednesday that it is forecasting "little to no growth" in installed wind generating capacity this year, compared with a near-record 1,687 megawatts installed in 2003, or enough electricity to power 500,000 homes. In North Dakota, 2003 brought the state's first major wind farm development, 61.5 megawatts of capacity generated by 41 turbines spinning between Kulm and Edgeley. Those turbines were erected by FPL Energy of Juno, Fla., which sells electricity from the turbines to Otter Tail Power Co. of Fergus Falls, Minn., and Basin Electric Power Cooperative of Bismarck. Steve Stengel of FPL Energy said the company has projects it will proceed with pending approval of the tax credits. He said he couldn't identify where those would be located. "Without the tax credits, those projects won't go forward," Stengel said. "But suffice it to say, we've got a good pipeline of projects ready." Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is one of several wind energy state lawmakers who pushed for renewable energy incentives in the bill. "We've been searching for some way to get this done," Dorgan said Wednesday. The production tax credit package included in the Senate bill runs for three years. "This should kick start some projects that have been on the shelf and give an economic boost to North Dakota," Dorgan said. The wind tax credits and other energy incentives were carried over from the energy bill that stalled in Congress last year, and written into the jobs bill as amendments. Senators late Tuesday, voting 85-13, shot down an attempt by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to strip energy provisions from the bill. The Senate bill needs a House companion bill, and President Bush's signature, before it becomes law. "Our expectation is that the attention will now be turned to the House," Swisher said. He expects wind production tax credits to be tacked on the House bill, but warned that other provisions in the bill ö particularly those addressing foreign trade ö could stall its passage. Readers can reach Forum reporter Gerry Gilmour at (701) 241-5560 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
