Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way up front.
The renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) is an incentive provided to energy producers equal to 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, adjusted annually for inflation. If you generate electricity using a renewable system — geothermal, wind, solar, etc. — you’re eligible.
For now, anyway. The credit is expiring for most forms of energy creation at the end of 2013. For wind, it’s up at the end of 2012.
Which has wind energy producers understandably nervous. But don’t worry, wind energy producers! Karl Rove has your back!
Cue “scratching record” sound. Or whatever the digital equivalent thereof might be.
Mr. Rove, last seen looking over his shoulder as he trotted away from his office in George Bush’s West Wing, has come out in favor of extending the PTC. As relayed by Bloomberg.com:
“We’ve got a growing economy that’s increasing energy consumption and wind energy should be part of the solution,” Rove said today on a panel at a wind conference in Atlanta. Extending the so-called production tax credit “should be a priority.”
Which … yes. It should. But this comes from one of the less popular figures in modern American politics, a guy firmly committed to leveraging our upended election laws to fulfill his long-standing goal of conservative political dominance. It’s like discovering that the obnoxious guy on the bus who’s annoying everyone is wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the logo of your favorite team.
On the plus side, Rove still has plenty of juice in Washington, D.C. Extending the PTC is a good move for wind energy producers and for the country at large, making it easier to generate renewable energy.
On the minus side: Karl Rove is wearing a “Wind Energy No. 1!” T-shirt.
