In a letter that appeared in yesterday’s edition of the Delaware County (Pa.) Daily Times, State Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Haverford) urges Congress to extend the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), saying that doing so will “create jobs, support local communities, protect the environment and improve energy price stability.”

Adds Vitali, “Wind farms help local economies by making lease payments to local property owners and paying property taxes to school districts and municipalities.  Wind turbines operate pollution free, do not add to climate change and use very little water. Wind power increases energy price stability. Because wind generated energy has no fuel cost, its price is very predictable over time.”

According to AWEA’s Pennsylvania fact sheet, the Keystone State now has 910 megawatts (MW) of wind generating capacity installed, enough to power the equivalent of 180,000 homes, and 3,000 to 4,000 workers are employed in the state’s wind industry.  A Production Tax Credit extension was also endorsed recently by the Philadelphia Inquirer, one of Pennsylvania’s major newspapers.