Vanessa Ramos, vanessa.ramos@sierraclub.org, 512-586-1853
Oklahoma City, Ok. -- Oklahoma Governor Fallin proposed a 0.5 cent per kilowatt hour tax on wind production and is invested on fast tracking the phasing out of tax incentives for the wind industry.
In response, Director of the Oklahoma Chapter of Sierra Club Johnson Bridgwater released the following statement:
“I am strongly opposed to the job-killing wind tax proposed by Governor Fallin. The Governor’s proposal would increase the cost of wind energy by 25% based on current rates. This would kill Oklahoma jobs, punish Oklahoma electricity customers, and send a strong message to the business community that Oklahoma is closed for investment. If Oklahoma DOES pass a new 25% tax on wind energy production, I assure you we will lose billions of dollars in investments, along with all the jobs these investments represent, to states like Texas, Colorado, and Kansas. If the Governor wants to raise new revenues and add additional taxes to our electric bills, it makes much more sense to tax out-of-state coal that we import from states like Wyoming for electricity production here in Oklahoma. It is counterproductive to tax clean energy produced right here in Oklahoma, rather than energy that we import from other states. I call on the Governor to withdraw her misguided proposal. If she doesn’t, I will work tirelessly with ratepayers and businesses to hold members of the Legislature accountable to defeat the Governor’s proposal.”