Extend Wind Energy Tax Credits

To The Editor:

The election is over. Democrats still control the Senate and Republicans still control the House.

It is time for legislators to stop their partisan bickering and reach across the aisle to work for a better America.

What better way to do that than to stand up for a cleaner environment and job creation at the same time? Missouri’s wind energy industry produces clean, sustainable, homegrown energy that never runs out, doesn’t pollute, and creates jobs right here at home.

The wind industry already employs more than 1,400 Missourians, and wind production in Missouri is set to triple in 2013.

However, if critical clean energy tax credits expire at the end of the year, these new jobs will likely be short-lived. The wind industry could lose 37,000 jobs nationwide if Congress does not act and allows these tax credits to expire.

Now is the time to build on our progress and set a path forward. Sen. Claire McCaskill and her colleagues in Congress can clean up the environment while protecting sustainable jobs here at home simply by extending the renewable energy production tax credit.

What’s holding them back?

By Sarah MacFarland, Environment Missouri St. Louis