Colorado Sens. Gardner, Bennet split on wind energy credit

Colorado’s U.S. Senate delegation was split on an amendment in the Keystone XL pipeline bill to extend the wind production tax credit five years.

The amendment, introduced by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., as part of the Keystone XL Pipeline Act, failed in a 51-47 vote Wednesday, with two members of the Senate not voting on the measure.

Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet voted in favor of the tax credit extension.

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Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, who has supported the credit in the past, voted against the amendment because it “advocates the reauthorization of this tax credit without any means to pay for the extension.”

“Further, the amendment offers no vision of how to eventually ramp down this tax credit, which was always intended to be temporary,” Gardner said in a statement issued by his office.

Gardner said he believes in the ability of wind energy to be a “key part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy.”

“I have been a major proponent of the Wind Production Tax Credit in the past, and I continue to support incentives for wind energy,” he said. “It plays a vital role in powering our homes and helping to grow our economy in Colorado.”

The credit has served as a key driver of production in Colorado’s wind industry, dominated by Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S (OMX: VWS). Vestas operates one factory in Windsor, two in Brighton and another one in Pueblo.

In December, Congress extended the tax credit retroactively to cover projects started in 2014, but the credit expired at the end of the year.

The wind industry viewed this week’s vote as political rather than a practical extension of the credit.

“The amendment, like many offered today to the Keystone XL bill, was viewed as a political issue rather than an opportunity to advance important policy and America’s energy security,” the American Wind Energy Association posted on its blog. (http://aweablog.org/blog/post/senate-vote-doesnt-reflect-winds-bipartisan-support)

One official for a wind industry manufacturer said he believed the credit may be renewed at the end of this year to cover projects started in 2015.