Conservative groups want Congress to let wind tax credit expire

More than 100 organizations under the Americans for Prosperity think tank called on Congress to let federal support for the wind energy industry expire.

The conservative groups sent a letter to Congress on Monday asking lawmakers to allow the wind Production Tax Credit, which gives wind power owners a tax credit per kilowatt-hour of electricity they produce, to expire.

The credit is set to expire at the end of the year.

“The wind industry has very little to show after 20 years of preferential tax treatment; it remains woefully dependent on this federal support,” the groups wrote in the letter.

“Yet despite this consistent under-performance, Congress has repeatedly voted to extend the [tax credit], usually in 1- or 2-year increments. This past year, Congress dramatically expanded the credit in addition to extending it.”

Energy solutions should be able to make it on their own in the marketplace, not be “propped up by government indefinitely,” according to the conservative groups.