Federal 1603 cash grants dead (for now)

The Coalition for Sensible Siting is relieved to announce that federal Section 1603 cash grants, at about $1 million per industrial wind turbine, were not continued in the federal tax bill. This is a huge victory for citizens. For once, the industrial wind energy lobbyists got "no" for an answer.

A heartfelt thank you to Minnesota Congressman John Kline and his staff. Congressman Kline provided leadership and a rallying point for legislators, citizens and industrial wind opposition across the US. A summary and documents can be found on John Kline's website.

Another major factor was the leadership of Lisa Linowes of Industrial Wind Action Group for activating and coordinating responses from citizens. Lisa’s efforts yielded 1600 citizen signatures from 25 states to U.S. legislators over a short 5 days.

Freedom Foundation of Minnesota's Tom Steward wrote an excellent story on the topic during the lead-up to the vote on the tax bill.

MN StarTribune's Washington D.C. reporter Kevin Diaz weighed in with coverage from the center of this national fight. 

Read more about federal 1603 cash grants on the Coalition for Sensible Siting website.