On Wednesday, Congressman Ken Buck (CO-04) and Reps. Harriet Hageman (WY-AL) and Doug Lamborn (CO-05) introduced the Production Tax Credit Reform Act. This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to require that energy companies remove decommissioned wind turbines from leased land as a condition of receiving federal tax credits. Currently, energy companies are not obligated to remove wind turbines from leased land once they are decommissioned, putting the onus on landowners — typically farmers and ranchers — to remove the turbines.
“The burden for removing and disposing of decommissioned wind turbines should not fall on landowners across the Eastern Pains,” said Buck. “Energy companies must remove retired turbines from leased land themselves and not leave it as a costly problem for hardworking landowners to solve.”
“Every square foot of land owned by farmers and ranchers is valuable, and an industry known for tight fiscal margins should not be responsible for disposing of wind turbines subsidized with taxpayer dollars,” said Hageman. “By making removal of decommissioned turbines a condition for Production Tax Credits, private landowners will no longer suffer the financial burden of abandoned or failed green bad deal energy projects.”
“Forcing heavy financial burdens onto landowners to appease the failing Green New Deal is inappropriate,” said Lamborn. “Government-subsidized infrastructure is not the responsibility of private citizens and must be disposed of by the energy companies that created the mess in the first place.”
Read the full text of the bill HERE.
