WIND WINS IOWA STRAW POLL

Candidates at straw poll sign names to giant wind blade; Six GOP presidential hopefuls join leading Iowa Republicans in endorsing wind energy
August 13, 2011 (American Wind Energy Association)

"GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, and Thaddeus McCotter joined Iowa’s leading Republicans and hundreds of straw poll voters in covering a 130-foot wind turbine blade with signatures at the entrance to the Iowa straw poll…

"Gingrich called wind a piece of his American energy program, and said he favors a 10-year extension of the PTC [production tax credit], to avoid the ‘up-and-down effect’ on renewable energy development when the policy changes…"

Governor Romney signs the blade.(from AWEA - click to enlarge)

[Gingrich] “If you’re going to have tax credits that are designed to create investment, they have to have a long enough time horizon that people who invest believe that they’ll be there...”

"U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a leader in getting the Production Tax Credit for renewable energy extended from 2003 through 2012, also signed the blade. He said that considering the U.S. currently spends $830 million a day on foreign oil, we need an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy that includes wind…"