Republicans killing wind energy, wind jobs. Proof!

Government doesn’t create Jobs? That's not true, because any way you look at it, government actually does create jobs and helps create jobs.

Take the Republican war on wind energy for instance. Because of them, the wind alternative is struggling to survive, and in fact, may not. That will feed into the spin that it’s just another bad liberal idea.

Proof that Republicans are killing the jobs that would have been created with the expansion of wind energy is contained in this Wisconsin State Journal article:

Alliant Energy will sell RMT, its Madison subsidiary that designs and builds clean energy projects.

When you compare it too natural gas, wind energy isn't making enough money yet. Also, Alliant’s decision is based on just one bad subcontractor from…the private sector.

Poor performance by a subcontractor on a solar energy installation in New Jersey accounted for the majority of the loss, Alliant said … Dave Parker, senior utilities analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co. said “wind has clearly not been as cheap as natural gas."

Uncertainty!!! Wind energy is a victim of Republican created uncertainty. Ironic? Yes, but also another reason why it’s opposite day, every day, in Republican world:

Chief executive Bill Harvey told a conference call with analysts that "lack of a consistent federal renewable energy policy … has caused us to reconsider this investment."

Alliant is not alone. Of three Midwest utility companies in the wind industry about 1,000 people have lost their jobs in the past year … main reasons are federal wind production tax credits are expected to expire this year … "You may not be able to find many vendors at all that will provide that option in the future, which is really too bad," said Parker. "Therefore, it will be more expensive."

Check out this promotion footage, and get a closer look at the future:

Due to Republican wind sabotage, wind energy will increase in price. That means they can criticize it even more. A win, win for Republicans.

The Production Tax Credit (PTC) expires at the end of 2012, but manufacturers of wind energy say if it’s not extended in the first quarter of this year, wind energy jobs could be cut in half. 

As you can see, that’s already happening. One more important note:

Windpowerengineering: A significant study from NREL and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory regarding the falling-cost trend for wind generated power ... With such efficiency gains, why would anyone not want to keep this development program, called “the wind industry,” going? The study adds that due to improvements in turbines tuned for lower wind speeds, the gap between the cost of wind energy in low and high wind speed areas has narrowed considerably, opening more areas of the United States for potential development. The Production Tax Credit will do just that. It’s a tax credit, not a subsidy, that provides $0.022/kWh. It rewards production. Even wind opponents can understand the tax credit they take on their mortgage, but there it rewards consumption – shame on them.