Wind power facts push back on AEA's Thomas Pyle
A few weeks ago we reported here on how the former lobbyist for Koch Industries and current head of the anti-renewables group American Energy Alliance Thomas Pyle was publishing cookie-cutter op-eds attacking effective federal policies encouraging the growth wind power and other renewables in newspapers across the country.
Photo credit: Kim Chelius
Our Fact Check summarized how Pyle recycled previously debunked myths to attack the PTC and wind power and we responded by presenting the facts. Including how:
- All 50 states benefit from the growth of American-made wind power
- The PTC has helped lower wind power related costs 43 percent in the last four years
- Wind power supports 25,000 good-paying jobs in 550 manufacturing facilities across 44 states
- American wind power supports 80,000 good-paying jobs overall
- 72 percent of a wind turbine’s value is now made in the U.S.A.
- Private investment in wind power attracts up to $25 billion a year to our economy
- Wind power helps lower electricity rates for consumers
- Extending the tax incentive for wind power is supported by a majority of Americans
Fortunately, the facts are reaching the readers of American newspapers where Pyle's op-eds ran.
Here’s a short compilation of those delivering the truth about wind power so far:
ACORE president and CEO Michael Brower hits back in Virginia, North Carolina, and Iowa. For example in the Roanoke Times, Brower writes: “Renewable energy program is a winner…Virginians are keenly aware of the benefits of renewables. Pro-renewable tax incentives help support more than 107,000 green jobs across the state.”
John Feehery of the Red State Renewables Alliance has published letters in Nevada, Indiana, Alabama, and Pennsylvania. Here's what he had to say in the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Attracting a record $25 billion in private investment in 2012, U.S. wind energy is creating jobs, stimulating economic development and savings consumers money on their power bills.”
- The Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
- The Evansville Courier Press (IN)
- The Huntsville Times (AL)
- Bucks County Courier Times (PA)
The Iowa Wind Energy Association’s interim executive director Mike Prior lays out the truth about wind power in Iowa. For example, Prior writes in the Des Moines Register: “The production tax credit for wind fosters economic development in all 50 states. From farmers to autoworkers, Americans everywhere are benefitting from wind energy.”
The California Wind Energy Association’s executive director Nancy Rader had her op-ed appear on the same day as Pyle’s. Ms. Rader writes in support of wind power: “The major instrument designed to grow wind power, the Production Tax Credit (PTC), has proven to be a remarkable return on investment. With the PTC in place, the wind industry has attracted up to $25 billion a year in private investment to our national economy, lowered wind power’s costs 43 percent over the past four years alone due to improved technology, created a brand new U.S. manufacturing sector and saved American consumers billions on their electric bills by diversifying our energy mix.”
The Desert Sun even editorialized on the same day in support of the Production Tax Credit and wind power:
- “With wind turbine prices falling 26 percent since 2009, Warren Buffet’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. bought $1 billion in equipment for wind farms in Iowa last year”
- “Wind energy is now estimated to be within 5.5 percent of the cost of coal. It’s 90 percent cheaper than it was 20 years ago and 30 percent cheaper than it was three years ago.”
- “The American Wind Energy Association reported in January that 12,000 megawatts of power were under construction at the end of the year, a record.”
- “The Desert Sun would like to see both of those trends continue. Whether through renewing the tax credits or tax code adjustments, the state and federal government should continue to support wind energy.”
