By M. Scott Carter
The Moore American
NORMAN
June 25, 2008 09:35 am
—
Increased federal and state tax incentives for alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas and wind power would be a “win-win” situation for Oklahoma, the presumptive Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate said Monday.
State Sen. Andrew Rice said lawmakers — at both the federal and state level — should increase the number of tax incentives targeted toward alternative fuels in an effort to help develop the market for those fuels in the Sooner State.
Rice made the announcement during a campaign stop at Bergey Wind Power in Norman. During the event, Rice was endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters.
“Andrew Rice recognizes the incredible economic potential of clean energy,” Deputy Legislative Director of LCV Tim Greeff said. “He will work hard to bring new high-wage clean energy jobs to Oklahoma and to find real solutions to soaring gas prices.”
Rice, of Oklahoma City, said Oklahoma must help fund the development of alternative energy resources through tax credits.
“We need to incentivise the next wave of innovation,” he said. “We’re at the crossroads today on energy and the reality of the situation is that we’re not going to get the speed and frequency (of alternative fuel development) until we have those tax incentives.”
Rice’s call for new incentives drew praise from Bergey Wind Power CEO Mike Bergey .
“The reason why we don’t sell anything in Oklahoma is there are no state or federal tax incentives,” he said. “The equipment we make is expensive for homeowners; we don’t produce very many because we’re a low volume operation.”
Bergey said his wind units can cost up to $50,000.
To lower prices, he said his company needs a national audience.
“With a national market we could increase production volume and bring down the costs of these units dramatically,” he said. “So federal tax policy is extremely important to us.”
But for that market to develop, Bergey said federal and state tax incentives must be in place. And right now, he said, those incentives are being sidelined by Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe.
“We don’t have a senator that we can turn to get support on the legislation because of Inhofe’s extreme views on global warming,” he said. “The senator working the hardest to create the jobs in Norman, Oklahoma, in the wind power field is a senator from Colorado.”
Rice agreed.
“Senator Inhofe likes to claim that to follow the transformation (to alternative fuels), to incentivise it, to go down this road will devastate the economy,” Rice said. “Actually, it’s just the exact opposite. In fact, his own nominee for president, his party’s nominee, John McCain, understands this to a certain degree; he’s running ads all over the country talking about it.”
Oklahoma, Rice said, must move now to ensure clean energy is available for future generations.
“We need to grab hold now of our opportunities,” he said. “Obviously, as a traditional energy state we’ll continue down that road. Natural gas is important part of our state, but there’s a finite amount of those resources. In the future, my children and grandchildren will have an infinite amount of renewable resources, particularly wind.”
He said energy leaders should exploit western Oklahoma’s potential as a wind-based energy producer.
“We have more mega-watt wind producing capacity in western Oklahoma than in any other state in the country,” he said. “The public and private investment that will come into this state will happen exactly when these incentive packages get passed. But that probably won’t be until we elect a new president and have a bigger Democratic majority in Congress.”
Rice faces Midwest City Democrat Jim Rogers in a July 29 primary. The winner of that contest will face the winner of a four-way Republican primary which includes Inhofe and fellow Republicans Ted Ryals of Oklahoma City, Dennis Lopez of Thackerville and Evelyn Rogers of Tulsa.
In November, the Democratic and Republican nominees will battle Independent candidate Stephen Wallace of Tulsa for the seat.
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