Maverick oilman T. Boone Pickens' plan for a mammoth wind farm in the Texas Panhandle is a $2 billion bet that Congress will extend a tax credit critical to the environmentally friendly industry. ...But the [wind] industry has relied on federal tax credits to survive, a point Pickens made Thursday. "I believe that Congress will recognize that it is critical not only to this project, but to renewable energy in this country, that they enact a long-term extension of the Production Tax Credits," he said.

A disagreement over the terms of a tax deal for a windfarm development in Prattsburgh will apparently have to be settled in court. The Steuben County Industrial Development Agency refused to change the terms of a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement Thursday for a 36-turbine project by First Wind, formerly known as UPC. Attorneys for the Prattsburgh and Naples school districts requested a renegotiation claiming the company should be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars more in taxes. ...The Prattsburgh school district is being shorted about $1 million, school attorneys claim.

Marking the start of yet another bid to move the stalled extension of renewable energy tax credits through Congress, the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday approved a $50 billion tax package that contains a slew of incentives for clean energy and biofuel production. The committee passed the legislation on a largely party-line 25-12 vote after several hours of debate on amendments that mostly had little to do with the bill's energy provisions. ...The legislation provides for an extension until the end of 2009 of the wind power production tax credit -- a measure that renewable energy advocates say is pivotal for survival of the industry. Other alternative energy sources -- such as biomass and geothermal -- are extended for three years.

County commissioners unveiled a draft agreement Thursday for a tax-increment financing district that could bring the county up to $4 million over 20 years to use for economic development in unorganized territories. ...But Carrabassett Valley Town Manager Dave Cota said the draft agreement would shift more of the county tax burden to organized towns and let the company get away with not paying its fair share of taxes. Mitchell said the purpose was to reach a balanced agreement that would benefit all of the county directly and indirectly. The TIF would capture 75 percent of the new tax revenue for the first 10 years and 50 percent for the latter 10, with the county keeping 40 percent and TransCanada getting 60 percent. The remaining tax revenue gained would go into the state's unorganized territory fund.

The House's tax-writing committee on Thursday approved a multifaceted tax package it said would save people almost $10 billion through expansion of the child tax credit and creation of a new deduction for property taxes. But the Ways and Means Committee put off for another day the annual debate over what to do with the alternative minimum tax that threatens millions of taxpayers with thousands of dollars in extra taxes apiece unless Congress acts to suppress it.

The company's $220 million effort near the Canadian border will be in the spotlight at 6 p.m. upstairs in the Franklin County Courthouse on Main Street. The details of the tax-increment financing program will be unveiled by the county's consultant, Gregory Mitchell of Eaton Peabody Consulting Group. The public is invited to comment and suggestions could be incorporated into the draft proposal, said Commissioner Gary McGrane of Jay. A formal public hearing is set for May 29. The TIF proposal presented Thursday will include the percentage of the wind farm's annual $1.1 million property taxes that would be returned to the company for reinvestment into the project for the next 20 years.

As Jefferson County, towns and school districts continue negotiations on splitting wind power development payments in lieu of taxes, towns have asked for an even larger piece of the pie than an earlier suggestion that included a host community agreement. ...According to a spreadsheet obtained by a Freedom of Information request from the Jefferson County administrator's office, the town of Clayton offered numbers in which towns would receive 47.5 percent, schools would receive 37.5 percent and the county would receive 15 percent of any tax break money.

An Invenergy representative made a pitch Wednesday to get Streator enterprise zone benefits for the second phase of the wind energy company's La Salle County project. Michael Arndt, senior development manager for Chicago-based Invenergy, addressed the Streator City Council in a committee of the whole meeting, outlining the rural Grand Ridge project's second phase and explaining why the company wants that part of the project included in the Streator enterprise zone. The first phase of the Grand Ridge wind farm, which is being constructed, includes 66 wind turbines that are included in Ottawa's enterprise zone.

Nearly two dozen school districts in southern Minnesota would have hundreds of thousands of dollars restored to their budgets next year under a tax provision passed in the state Senate on Wednesday. An amendment, introduced by Sen. Dan Sparks of Austin, would restore to school districts the revenue generated by an energy production tax on wind farms. Triton, Grand Meadow and Southland are among the 22 districts that would benefit from this revenue stream at a time when schools are struggling financially, legislators say. ...Those odds are still considered long. Spark's amendment passed by only a single vote, while exposing a deep regional rift between rural and metro legislators.

Here's a challenge: How do you keep clamoring for subsidies when your industry shatters growth records with numbing regularity? ...Congress keeps dithering over the renewal of clean-energy tax credits. They expire later this year, and-since they make wind power more cost-competitive with regular electricity generation-have historically been crucial to the industry's development. They apparently still are. ...Granted, price supports have been crucial to the development of wind power everywhere. ...But when consumers are already being battered by higher prices for gasoline (and electricity), and your industry is thriving, how easy is it to keep pleading for more help?

The U.S. House of Representatives next week could weigh legislation that extends tax incentives to use renewable energy sources like wind and solar and slaps new taxes on big energy companies, Democratic aides said on Friday. Plans have not been finalized, but Democratic leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi want to show their displeasure at near-record high oil prices and record-setting profits recently reported by oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp, aides said on condition of anonymity.

Released Tuesday, the 443-page Energy Report 2008 shows state and local subsidies of $1.4 billion on energy produced in Texas, plus a similar amount of federal subsidies for Texas energy. ...[Texas Comptroller Susan] Combs said Tuesday that subsidies can have unintended consequences -- especially when policymakers favor "winners" by providing greater subsidies for one fuel source over another. "Such assistance must be applied carefully," the report says. "Public policies that attempt to pick winners in the race for new energy technologies are an inefficient way to achieve policy goals and run the risk not only of wasting taxpayer money but also of directing private investment away from more promising use."

The American Wind Energy Association on Wednesday announced that 2008 was shaping up to be another strong year of growth for the U.S. wind power industry, with 1,400 new megawatts added during the first quarter ...Although the industry is actively lobbying for an extension of the tax credit this year, when the continued support of wind power is so critical to its mass adoption, they quietly concede that things are a little different now. Wind power economics have improved to the point that, at least in many parts of the country, it is competitive with other fuel sources, even without a tax credit.

[T]he City Council approved a payment-in-lieu-of- taxes agreement for Steel Winds II, the second phase of the wind energy development on the former Bethlehem site. The agreement covers each of the proposed 13 turbines for 15 years, beginning when each is put into place. The payment will be based on $10,000 per megawatt for the 32.5 megawatts expected to be produced. ...A significant change in the new agreement is the inclusion of the school district and Erie County in the disbursement of PILOT monies. Neither was included in the original agreement...

Aside from Wyoming County, there are 62 other wind energy projects proposed across the state, according to the New York Independent System Operator. They include plans by Massachusetts-based First Wind (UPC Wind) for two projects in Ontario County and one in Genesee County; a 120-megawatt wind farm in Orleans County by Airtricity Inc. of Ireland; and a 75-megawatt wind farm in Genesee County by Tonawanda Creek Wind LLC. ...Fanning all this wind farm activity is the federal government's renewable energy production tax credit of about 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, said Thomas Drennen, a professor of economics and environmental studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva.

On the heels of hefty budget cuts, Grand Meadow Public Schools is now faced with losing thousands of dollars in revenue from wind turbines. Superintendent Joe Brown said his district expected to get $50,000 in extra revenue next year thanks to a tax on area wind farms. But a change to state law last year means schools would no longer benefit from the wind energy production tax. Meanwhile, efforts by area lawmakers this session to restore the tax benefits have met stiff opposition. Brown said his district, which is currently in statutory operating debt, had been counting on the wind tax dollars.

Just how tax payments from a windfarm development in Prattsburgh should be divided was argued this week before Supreme Court Judge Peter Bradstreet. No decision was made in a lawsuit filed by the Prattsburgh and Naples school districts against a payment-in-lieu of taxes agreement approved by the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency in January. No decision on the claim was made and Bradstreet's office said there is no timetable when a ruling will be made. ...But Premo said the town agreement was frequently referred to in discussions and documents setting up the PILOT. "This was structured in a way to divert money away from the districts," Premo said. "There is no indication they will do anything differently (in May)."

Tazewell County State's Attorney Stu Umholtz says the Tazewell County Board can't give tax breaks to a proposed wind farm. ...The Tazewell County Board executive board voted to grant "enterprise zone" status to the project. But Stewart Umholtz says while the county board' members intentions are good, their actions would be illegal.

Two area wind energy opponents filed a lawsuit Monday against the Taylor County Commissioners Court for granting what the plaintiffs say are illegal tax abatements to wind farms developed within the county. According to the lawsuit, wind energy equipment is not eligible for tax abatements under the state tax code. In 2004 and 2006, Taylor County commissioners granted five tax abatements potentially worth $5 million to $10 million to three companies that have built farms of wind turbines in rural areas of the county. "That's my money the county is giving away illegally. We're asking the court to rectify this," said Dale Rankin, one of two plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Times have never been better for wind power. The industry's growth rate doubled last year, and additional turbines are going up across the country. But the industry is heavily dependent on a federal tax subsidy that's set to expire at the end of this year. And the industry's growth is steadily increasing the cost of the subsidy and making it tougher for lawmakers to keep it going. ...Last year, the industry added 5,244 megawatts of capacity, more than twice the 2,454 megawatts added in 2006. That brought the nationwide capacity to 16,818 megawatts. But that growth also means that continuing the subsidy for one more year, through 2009, would cost taxpayers $3 billion. "The problem with a long-term extension is that it's cost-prohibitive as long as the industry continues to expand. Budget-wise, it's hard to do it for an extended period of time," said Frank Maisano, an energy industry lobbyist.