“I’m the author of the wind energy tax credit of 1992, and there were people from outside the state came into Iowa and issued a press release that the Republican candidate for president was opposed to wind energy, and I felt it was just like a knife in my back, as the author of the bill, without even being consulted about it,” the Hawk Eye newspaper in Burlington reported.

Sen. Chuck Grassley at the Acciona plant in Iowa. (image via Acciona)

Then in Donnellson, Grassley said this about the Romney opposition to the PTC: “I don’t know who’s behind it and I’m going to find out who’s behind it, and expose them and tell them how stupid their policy is.”

Grassley’s statements highlight the irony of the Romney campaign’s opposition to the PTC: It so ticked off Grassley, he’s now leading the charge for an extension!

The AWEA has a lot of wonderful things it can say about wind in its fight for the PTC: at 50 GW, wind now powers the equivalent of 13 million homes; it represents the generating power of 44 coal-fired power plants, or 11 nuclear power plants; and because it uses virtually no water, saves 30 billion gallons of water a year compared to thermal electric generation. But Chuck Grassley looks to be their ace in the hole.

Pages: 1 2