White House’s Sutley, Reps. McCollum and Ellison in Minnesota to Call for Extending Wind Energy Production Tax Credit

WASHINGTON, DC — Nancy Sutley, President Obama’s principal environmental advisor and Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, will join U.S. Representatives Betty McCollum (MN-04) and Keith Ellison (MN-05), and wind energy business leaders at a North Saint Paul wind turbine to highlight the need for Congress to act to extend the Federal wind energy production Tax Credit (PTC) this Monday, July 2, in North Saint Paul, MN.  North Saint Paul is part of Minnesota’s “Hometown WindPower” Program, and is one of 11 Minnesota cities to have a wind turbine that creates clean, renewable electricity and contributes to reliable and sustainable energy for millions of Americans.

President Obama has called on Congress to take immediate action to create jobs and move our economy forward by extending the federal Production Tax Credit, which is set to expire at the end of this year unless Congress acts.  This tax credit, which has bi-partisan support, has helped drive industry growth and create jobs – in 2011, nearly one-third of all new power capacity in the United States came from wind.  Industry leaders estimate 37,000 wind energy jobs are at risk if Congress fails to extend the tax credit – including jobs in Minnesota.  Uncertainty about the extension is already impacting wind energy businesses around the nation. 

WHO:

Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality
U.S. Representative Betty McCollum
U.S. Representative Keith Ellison
Mike Kuehn, Mayor of North Saint Paul
Mark Ahlstrom, CEO, WindLogics, Inc.
Joe DeVito, Vice President of Development, Midwest at RES Americas
Tim Maag, Vice President, General Manager, U.S. Wind, Mortenson Construction
Doug Fredrickson, Executive Vice President, Blattner Energy