[Editor note: This is the final excerpt of a January 15 letter by Mr. Schleede to the Senate Finance Committee concerning the Baucus tax-reform proposal (December 18, 2013). Part I reprinted the executive summary and conclusions; Part II the high cost/low value of windpower. Part III the negative environmental effects of continued subsidization of windpower, including the “cleanliness” standard of the Baucus proposal.]
“Tax breaks and subsidies for wind transfer wealth from ordinary taxpayers and electric customers to “wind farm” owners, electric customers in some states, and the voluntary purchasers of high cost electricity from wind.”
During the past 20 years, a variety of tax breaks and special subsidies for the wind industry have had massive wealth transfer impacts. The proposed production tax credit (PTC) and investment tax credit (ITC) would extend such impact for years into the future.…
[Editor note: This is the third except of a January 15 letter to the Senate Finance Committee concerning the Baucus tax-reform proposal of December 18, 2013. Part I reprinted the executive summary and conclusions; Part II the high cost/low value of windpower; and Part IV will review the negative environmental effects of continued subsidization of windpower, including the “cleanliness” standard of the Baucus proposal.]
For more than a decade, the wind industry and its advocates have created a false impression among many in the public, media, and government that electricity from wind is “clean” and can be provided without adverse environmental and ecological impacts.
As demonstrated earlier, the production of electricity from wind actually results in emission of air pollutants because electric grid managers are forced by the availability of electricity from wind to keep other, generally fossil-fueled, generating units immediately available to compensate for the unreliability, intermittence, and volatility of the output from wind turbines.…
[Editor note: This is the second of a four-part series reprinting the January 15th letter of Mr. Schleede to the Senate Finance Committee concerning the Baucus tax-reform proposal dated December 18, 2013. Part I yesterday reprinted the executive summary and conclusions; Parts III and Part IV next week will cover the environmental wealth effect issues of current public policies favoring wind power.]
The Senate Finance Committee has ignored adverse economic impacts of the massive tax breaks and subsidies that have been provided to owners of wind turbines and “wind farms” and, in effect, has proposed continuation of large tax breaks for these owners – all at the expense of ordinary taxpayers and electric customers.
The economic impacts of the proposed tax breaks on electric customers is not even mentioned in the rationale for the Committee’s new tax break scheme – unfortunately, another indication of the wide gulf between thinking and actions of members of Congress and the interests of ordinary people outside Washington who are burdened by costly Congressional actions.…