Vestas wearing out kneepads in D.C.
The Danish wind power equipment manufacturer on whom Portland and Oregon are blowing so many tax dollars is still begging Congress to extend the federal tax credit for wind energy production, without which it will soon be laying off even more workers than it already has. An account of the latest maneuvers, which include our own Gatsby, is here.
It's awfully hard to get tax legislation passed in an election year, and with the Solyndra debacle still fresh in politicians' minds, it's a particularly hard sell. The Senate may pass a bill, but the House is a different story.
Meanwhile, we caught an Exxon TV ad during the ballgame yesterday, touting the proposed Keystone Pipeline through the heart of America. "It's all about jobs." Ah yes, but many jobs are devoted to harmful ends.
| Posted at 8:49 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (7)
Passing the remodeled headquarters building on my way to work this morning, I noticed that the construction fencing is down and the Vestas signs have been hung.
Posted by reader | March 19, 2012 12:18 PM
Reading this gave me flashbacks to 1990, when a lot of defense projects were cut in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. (Ironically, they were all cut by then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, just before he became a military genius thanks to repeated viewings of Ken Burns's "The Civil War".) Every time a project was cut, the universal cry rang out from the people on the projects: "I don't see why we can't pay a little more in taxes just so we can't keep people in jobs." Because those projects don't work, that's why. No difference here whatsoever.
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | March 19, 2012 12:19 PM
Plus, those Keystone job claims appear to be wildly inflated (even more than the green job claims we hear!):
http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/11/04/362056/fact-check-keystone-xl-tar-sands-pipeline-isnt-a-job-creator/
Posted by Pete | March 19, 2012 2:49 PM
Reader nailed it above...."put sign on it"...that'll fix everything in Portlandia. Howzabout a bracket for whether or not the Vesties will ever move in?
Posted by veiledorchid | March 19, 2012 3:14 PM
I don't understand. How are pipeline jobs harmful?
Posted by John D | March 19, 2012 7:19 PM
The remaining Vestas jobs around Portland will just move in to the Meier and Frank building. Then Sam will declare victory that he created the jobs.
Posted by lw | March 19, 2012 7:21 PM
We're going to be driving cars powered by oil for the near and medium term. Instead of buying it from the jerks and kooks in the middle east let's get it from North Dakota, Canada, Alaska and off shore. It'll create great jobs, and a vibrant economy. Green energy is a total flop so far.
Exxon is not evil by the way. They are delivering a product to the market with remarkable efficiency. If they were run by the government price per gallon would be $40.00 (see our water bureau for an example.)
Posted by John | March 20, 2012 6:15 PM