Big wind does not have a COVID problem. It has a mismanagement problem.

[Chuck] Grassley is promoting the American Wind Energy Association’s bogus claim that COVID slowed the industry causing projects to delay into 2021. He is now asking the IRS to extend the four-year window by another year to allow MWs that started construction in 2016 to spill into 2021 and still earn 100% PTC.

– Lisa Linowes (below)

The Texas Business Coalition recently published an interview with the intrepid critic of government-enabled industrial wind power, Lisa Linowes. The TBC’s article, “Wind Energy Researcher: Don’t Extend Deadline for Wind Projects” (April 26. 2020), explains what Big Wind is after now under the guise of Pandemic policy.

The article follows in its entirety.

Six U.S. senators, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, have asked for “safe harbor” deadline extensions to assist renewable energy developers to meet construction deadlines and qualify for tax credits.…

“The combination of the federal PTC and state RPS policies has shielded wind developers from the basic supply and demand forces present in a healthy competitive market. As a result, we are fast-tracking the construction of expensive renewable resources that are variable, operating largely off-peak, off-season and located long distances from where the energy is needed.”

As IER’s recent study found, the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) disproportionately benefits States with renewable energy mandates by distributing the high cost of their policies to taxpayers at large. And the benefit is enormous — at $23/MWh, the PTC’s pre-tax value of $35/MWh equals or exceeds the wholesale price of electricity in many parts of the country.

No traditional source of electric generation receives a federal subsidy as generous and condition-free as the PTC.…

New wind and solar projects are expected to decline sharply over the next two years as the One Big Beautiful Bill’s strict tax credit rules, supply chain restrictions, and aggressive enforcement drive up costs and risk. With subsidies set to expire after 2027 for new projects, the decades-long era of easy tax-driven renewable development is coming to an end.

“Under the new law, eligibility for the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) has become far more complex and legally uncertain. That’s by design. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act prioritizes strengthening America’s energy system with reliable, dispatchable power—not tax-driven projects that weaken the grid’s resilience.”

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) marks a major shift in U.S. energy policy—one that places American taxpayers and national interests squarely at the center of federal energy incentives.…

“The law remains clear: the Department of the Interior must ensure that offshore projects prevent unreasonable interference before approval — not simply allow harm and hope payouts will quiet objections.”

With offshore wind, a lethal tort issue lurks beneath the waves: Is it enough to pay off harmed ocean users after the fact, or does the law demand the government prevent harm in the first place? Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), a clear answer is being dangerously overlooked.

OCSLA, originally passed in 1953 and amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, governs energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Section 8(p)(4)(I) imposes a specific duty on the Department of the Interior: before approving offshore activities like wind development, the Secretary must ensure the project “provides for the prevention of interference with reasonable uses” of the ocean — including fishing, recreation, and navigation.…