To create jobs, renew clean-energy tax credits

By Will Sessoms and Meredith Epstein
The Virginian-Pilot
? November 18, 2012

The economic and environmental imperatives for investing in clean energy, such as wind power, are clearer now than they ever have been. New clean-energy jobs are a bright spot during these challenging economic times. At the same time, Virginia's reliance on fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, is polluting our air, threatening our health and driving global warming.

Wind energy has enormous promise to power our homes with clean, renewable energy and to sustain long-term job creation. In fact, wind energy already powers nearly 13 million homes nationwide and employs about 75,000 Americans.

But critical clean-energy tax credits are due to expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts.

We have the technology and the workforce to harness much more clean energy right now, and we can't afford to cut the legs out from this critical industry by letting these tax credits expire.

In Virginia, new wind farms are under construction, creating jobs. But we have the potential to get far more of our energy from wind power and to create thousands of jobs in the wind industry. The wind that blows over our state and our waters could provide 4.5 times the amount of electricity we use. In addition, developing our offshore wind resources alone could create more than 11,000 jobs in Virginia.

Wind power is on its way to being cost-competitive with traditional energy sources. The price of wind energy has dropped 90 percent since 1980, and the jobs are staying here: 60 percent of a wind turbine's value is now produced in the United States, up from 25 percent in 2005.

There's more progress to be made, here and across the country. To continue this growth and finally get clean-energy industries over the finish line, we also need federal help to grow our clean-energy economy.

The coming months are important for the future of clean energy, nationally and in Virginia. Critical clean-energy tax credits - the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) and the offshore wind investment tax credit (ITC) - are set to expire Dec. 31 unless Congress acts. If the credits expire, we could lose an estimated 37,000 American wind jobs and hard-won momentum on clean energy.

We know that clean energy is growing local economies, adding jobs and creating a cleaner future for Virginians - and we should continue to invest in its success. We urge Virginia's U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb to help ensure that these clean-energy tax credits are renewed as soon as possible.

Will Sessoms is mayor of Virginia Beach. Meredith Epstein is the energy associate with Environment Virginia, a citizen-based environmental advocacy group.

Source: http://hamptonroads.com/2012/11/create-jobs-renew-cleanenergy-tax-credits

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