At any moment Congress will decide whether to extend the production tax credit, which gives wind power producers a 2.2 cent tax credit for every kilowatt hour of power they produce.

Among those urging extension are some of America's biggest brands and largest purchasers of wind and other renewably sourced energy. This week, 15 of them, including Starbucks, Staples, Nike, Levi Strauss & Co., Campbell Soup Co. and Yahoo!, wrote to Congressional leaders urging extension of the PTC. Some of these companies already get more than half their energy from renewables; Starbucks' goal is to source 100 percent of its energy from renewables in two years.

"The PTC has enabled the wind industry to slash wind energy costs -- 90 percent since 1980 -- a big reason why companies like ours are buying increasing amounts of wind energy," the letter states.

Made in America renewable energy, such as wind, is highly attractive to U.S. companies for whom managing energy costs is a high priority. Sources of foreign oil are unreliable, as is the price:[...]

[Published in GreenNews - Read the original article]