Bennet Calls Passage of Wind PTC Extension a Top Priority for Congress Following Vestas Announcement of Layoffs

Press Release

Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement regarding news that Vestas Wind Systems will begin cutting jobs at its factory in Pueblo, Colorado.

"Congress has put off a clean up or down vote on the wind PTC extension for months, and now Colorado's economy is paying the price," Bennet said. "Extending the wind PTC must be a top priority for Congress. We should vote on an extension of the tax credit immediately when Congress resumes session. It has bipartisan support, it is an economic driver throughout the country and Colorado workers are counting on us to get it across the finish line."

Bennet has led efforts in Congress to extend the wind energy PTC. He led eight of the nine members of the Colorado Congressional delegation in a bipartisan letter calling for extension of the tax credit and has introduced two bipartisan amendments with Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), cosponsored by Senator Mark Udall, to extend the PTC. He has also partnered with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Udall to introduce the American Energy and Job Promotion Act, a bipartisan bill to extend the PTC for wind and several other renewable energy technologies. Earlier this month, he successfully led a bipartisan group of senators urging the Senate Finance Committee to include an extension of the PTC in a tax extenders bill the committee was considering.

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.

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