To the editor:
The wind Production Tax Credit complicates the tax code and favors one industry over others.
Tax credits like the wind PTC allow large corporations to take advantage of loopholes, forcing many of the companies and foresters we represent to fund a larger portion of the credits than their fair share. This is especially detrimental to our more rural communities that were already struggling before the recession.
What's more is that data from the U.S. Department of Energy shows that for every 1,000 MW of power produced, a coal plant employs 220 permanent employees, while a wind production facility employs only 52. Yet the federal government provided $4.9 billion in federal subsidies in fiscal year 2010 alone.
We cannot spend billions of dollars each year on an industry that does nothing to lower our large unemployment numbers and provides yet another advantage to large corporations. The wind PTC must expire.
Scott Robbins
Fact Box
The Daily Mining Gazette welcomes letters to the editor from readers.
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Mail letters to: Letters to the Editor, The Daily Mining Gazette, P.O. Box 368, Houghton, MI 49931. Letters may also be e-mailed to jnordberg@mininggazette.com or submitted on the Gazette's Web site, mininggazette.com, by clicking on "Submit News."
Michigan Forest Products Council
Lansing