Sen. Chuck Grassley wants more funding for wind energy research put into next year’s energy and water spending bill.
The Iowa Republican took to the Senate floor Monday afternoon to push an amendment that would fund wind energy research at the same level in fiscal 2017 as it is for the current fiscal year, $95.4 million. The current bill on the Senate floor contains $80 million for wind energy research funding.
Grassley said increasing wind energy research funding would require no new funding and instead would shift $15.4 million from the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to wind energy research.
“It does not raise overall spending levels,” he said. “It simply redirects $15.4 million from other renewable energy and efficiency programs to wind energy research.”
A vote is scheduled on the amendment Tuesday morning. Grassley proposed the amendment with Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.
A vote on the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act could come as early as Tuesday. Grassley’s amendment is one of three amendments still waiting for votes on the Senate floor.
The $37.5 billion bill contains funding for the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers. The Obama administration has threatened to veto the bill over “ideological” riders.
Wind energy is important in Iowa. Grassley noted that 30 percent of the state’s electricity comes from wind energy and the industry supported 88,000 jobs there in 2015.
Grassley said he believes funding for wind energy needs to stay level, if not increased, given the amount of tax breaks given to other energy sectors. He pointed to fossil fuels and nuclear energy in particular.
He said opponents of wind energy will point to the industry’s growth in the recent past as proof that the industry is mature, but that’s not true.
“They argue that we shouldn’t pick winners or that wind is a mature industry,” Grassley said. “Don’t kid yourself. Wind, while nearly mature, is just an infant compared to the federal dollars and incentives provided to fossil and nuclear energy.”
