Advocate Summary

Issue:  Wind Energy Tax Credit
Advocate:  Office of Representative Mark Foley (R-FL) – Elizabeth Nicolson
Date of Interview: 7/15/02

Basic Background
The Congressman got involved in it and has been a long time supporter of wind energy tax credits, largely because pretty much the largest company out there that’s involved in this is in our district, it’s Florida Power and Light. They have a number of wind energy projects in California and Minnesota and various other states, mostly in the Northwest or the West coast. The tax credit for them is the difference between being able to continue expand on these projects or have to give it up. When there was a delay in having the extension go into place, they said that a number of their projects that were still in the planning stages basically went on hold, because they couldn’t more forward without knowing what their capacity was. So it is one of the energy credits that has proven to be useful in terms of companies actually getting out there and doing these projects, not just sort of putting mechanisms around just for the sake of getting the tax credit, they’ve done a lot of investment. So from our perspective, the bill originally had been sponsored by Bill Thomas of California, and when he became chairman of the Ways and Means he didn’t want to have and specific bills obviously so Mark took over the bill as the lead sponsor of it. 

Prior Activity on the Issue 
None mentioned.

Advocacy Activities Undertaken
I think we sent out a dear colleague letter, we had two fronts we needed to work on to make sure that it was part of the overall Energy policy bill that the House eventually passed last year, and two that the tax credit itself was expiring itself as of last December and we wanted to make sure that it was extended for another, we had hoped another five years, as it turned out another two. That was all they could afford so that was a separate tax bill. We did send out one letter, but it was a fairly popular bill. Wind energy is kind of proven itself over time, so because it’s not a new technology it had a little better chance of getting through compared to other types of energy that are fairly new and unproven. You have to have a specific tax measure in order to extend an existing tax credit or to impose a new one for that matter. The Energy bill was more setting policy so we wanted to make sure it was included in that too so that it was in effect an authorized activity. 

So we only got two years because it comes down to money as it often does around here. We only got the two instead of the five we were working for because it comes down to the pie issue, there’s only so much money and when they are working with a limited budget, and so they can cover more things, they’ll often extend more credits for less time. So we only got two years, so we’ll just have to re-introduce it again next year for the next extension. The problem with that is the big companies need more assurance than that. Two years looks like…you know but five years gives them a better idea of where they are in the tax code and gives them more incentive to invest. If they only have two years and so they don’t know where they’re going to be two years after that  they aren’t going to be as willing to invest.

When they had a hearing, the Select Revenue Subcommittee (Ways and Means) before we passed the extenders out, the subcommittee had a series of hearings on energy tax related issues and two or three people in the course of their testimony before the committee kept referring to the wind energy tax as being obviously a must, that it was very good, and had done all these wonderful things and I was surprised, I knew there was going to be one guy there from Florida Power and Light who was going to testify in favor of it but I was quite surprised when other people got up to testify about other issues, and other alternative forms of energy and kept pointing out to wind energy as the prime example. So I was very pleased with that it was like everybody else was doing my work for me. 

Future Advocacy Activities Planned
None mentioned.

Key Congressional Contact(s)/Champions
[Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) is the lead co-sponsor]

Targets of Direct Lobbying
None mentioned.

Targets of Grassroots Lobbying
None applicable.

Coalition Partners: Names/Participants
The American Wind Energy Association was very, very helpful and supportive and the environmentalists obviously prefer this to drilling but it was mainly the Wind Energy Association. I don’t think it ever occurred to the environmental groups that the tax credit wouldn’t be extended so it’s not as though they felt as though they had to go on some major campaign. It was mostly the Wind Energy Association that lobbied for it and just kind of kept it on the radar screen. 

Other Participants in the Issue Debate
None mentioned.

Ubiquitous Argument(s) and Evidence
There are a lot of arguments in favor of it. Overall my boss has always been very concerned about our dependence on foreign oil and a lot of these credits were initiated back in the 70s when we had the oil problems and the oil crisis. His sense is that alternate forms of energy, whether it’s in the form of wind energy, whether it’s fuel cells, maybe even biomass to a lesser degree are all potential sources that if you add them together could at least supplant a certain percentage of foreign oil. And oil for that matter that isn’t foreign, for instance going into Anwar and tapping into that, so from that perspective he feels as though we really have to do more instead of responding to our own needs, by saying let’s just go out and drill and get more and more oil, we need to be more creative and more inline with what we began to do in the 70s, we’ve sort of slipped back from that. He really thinks it’s irresponsible to not do what we can to develop alternative sources that are more environmentally compatible with where we want to be and also as effective for the needs that we need electricity for so it was really from those perspectives that he came at that. He is very much a supporter of the environment but it’s even more of a practical thing, where, if you can find something that will help produce energy and it will do so in a more environmentally fashion than the traditional sort of methods, by all means do it if it looks like it’s possible and not just a pie in the sky concept. The other thing too is that Florida Power and Light has discovered that because they lease the land to be able to put their windmills on farms, it had the added advantage to be helpful to farmers because they can use their land for instance say they have cattle or livestock of some sort and the cattle can still use the land and feed on it but the farmer in addition gets about 2000 dollars a year of income for allowing them to site their windmills on the property. And there are a lot of farmers that really love that, they love the marriage of being able to use their farmland for something greater and they obviously love the 2 thousand dollars that they get. So it has a lot of aspects to it then just like solar energy or something like that where nobody is benefiting other than those who produce it and those that use it, this sort of has a third party benefit to it, which is really good. 

Secondary Argument(s) and Evidence
The other thing too is that Florida Power and Light has discovered that because they lease the land to be able to put their windmills on farms, it had the added advantage to be helpful to farmers because they can use their land for instance say they have cattle or livestock of some sort and the cattle can still use the land and feed on it but the farmer in addition gets about 2000 dollars a year of income for allowing them to site their windmills on the property. And there are a lot of farmers that really love that, they love the marriage of being able to use their farmland for something greater and they obviously love the 2 thousand dollars that they get.

Targeted Arguments, Targets, and Evidence
No we didn’t have to target. The thing with wind energy is that it’s been around long enough and there have been large companies like Florida Power that have invested and you can stand back and see that there’s been a real investment it’s not just pie in the sky, that things are really happening with it and when you have that you normally don’t worry about the credits not being continued. They eventually won’t be continued when the industry becomes mature, but it is far from being that right now. But it really has been one of the technologies, of all the alternative forms of fuel, has really seemed to pan out and done some real good. So there was never any question in my mind or in the Congressman’s mind that it wouldn’t be renewed. It was just a question of timing and could we do it quickly enough.

Nature of the Opposition
No, nobody was opposed to it, not at all. 

[Impediments]
Just trying to find the right tax bill, it went over like two or three tax bills that kept being shot down by the Senate for other reasons than the bill so, it was not just that particular tax credit it was a whole host of tax credits across the board that were going to expire or had already expired so there was this section of the tax bill just extending all these tax credits, and wind energy was one of them. It was more, the frustration really was more trying to find a vehicle to put them on, that would pass muster in the Senate too and go into law, because we were getting a little frantic, by the time we got that in place it was maybe two or three months after the existing credits had already expired and it was really causing havoc. We were really scrounging to make sure there was a tax vehicle out there that was acceptable. Nobody had a problem with extending these tax credits, the problem was that they were perceived as sweeteners for other tax measures, to kind of get people to support these other tax measures, so they kept being included in these other large tax bill just sort of as honey in the pot, and it wasn’t enough honey to get people to vote on. So they finally go on one. 

Ubiquitous Argument(s) and Evidence Articulated by the Opposition 
Not applicable. 

Secondary Argument(s) and Evidence Articulated by the Opposition
Not applicable. 

Targeted Argument(s) and Evidence Articulated by the Opposition (and Targets)
Not applicable. 

Described as a Partisan Issue
It was very bi-partisan, the lead co-sponsor of the bill is Richard Neal, he’s a Democrat from Massachusetts and if you look at the co-sponsor list it is very even in terms of Republican and Democrat. 

Venue(s) of Activity
House Ways and Means 
- Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures 

Action Pending or Taken by Relevant Decision Makers
The Energy bill still needs to go to conference.
The tax bill that extended the wind energy tax credit has already been signed into law.

Policy Objective(s) and Support for/Opposition to the Status Quo
Working to include wind energy in the Energy bill and extend the tax credit in the tax bill. 

Advocate’s Experience: Tenure in Current Job/Previous Experience
I’ve been on Capitol Hill since 1985, and I’ve been with Mr. Foley for about five, I worked with different members 

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