The federal tax credit for wind energy expires December 31, unlike many subsidies for fossil fuels. Congressional inaction could doom or hobble many green entrepreneurs.
"WASHINGTON - Geronimo Wind Energy recently won regulators' permission to build two wind farms in Minnesota.
What happens next for the Stearns County ventures depends partly on the political winds in the nation's capital.
Right now, those winds seem to be blowing in the wrong direction for the projects. With the U.S. Senate and House struggling to strike a deal to avoid a fiscal cliff of automatic spending cuts and tax increases, chances worsen for extending a federal renewable energy production tax credit that expires Dec. 31.
Without the credit, experts believe investors will be reluctant to put money into building wind farms, customers will be leery of signing long-term contacts to buy electricity from them and companies making parts for giant windmills will go out of business in states like Iowa, Colorado and Minnesota."
David Shaffer and Jim Spencer report for the Minneapolis Star Tribune December 15, 2012.
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