Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is being pressed to lobby the state’s congressional delegation in opposition to a cut in a federal tax credit that could derail $1.5 billion in planned projects across Kansas.
As The Topeka Capital-Journal reports, included in the U.S. House bill endorsed by all four Kansas representatives in Washington is a provision that weakens the production tax credit, which gives wind, geothermal and biofuel facilities that started construction in 2015 and 2016 a 2.3 cent per kilowatt-hour tax incentive for 10 years.
The House bill that passed with support from Kansas U.S. Reps. Lynn Jenkins, Kevin Yoder, Bob Marshall and Ron Estes would drop the tax credit to 1.5-cent per kilowatt hour retroactively and alter a definition in the guidelines of “under construction.”
Wind industry executives are asking Brownback and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer to encourage fellow Republican U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran to keep changes in the tax credit out of the Senate’s bill and the final
Kansas ranks third in per capita wind production and fifth for installed wind capacity. The wind industry in Kansas employs approximately 6,000 people.
