With Congress back in session following the election, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today renewed his call for Congress to pass an extension of the wind energy production tax credit (PTC) to provide certainty for wind companies in Colorado.

“Over the last several months we’ve seen preventable job losses in Colorado’s wind energy industry. We can stop shedding these jobs if we extend the wind PTC,” Bennet said. “Now that the Senate has reconvened for the lame duck session, we it is time to come together to pass an extension of the tax credit. It will provide certainty for companies in Colorado and across the country. Too many job and livelihoods are at stake. The wind tax credit has bipartisan support and should be extended as soon as soon as possible.”

Bennet has led efforts in Congress to extend the wind energy PTC. He led eight of the nine members of the Colorado Congressional delegation in a bipartisan letter calling for extension of the tax credit and has introduced two bipartisan amendments with Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), cosponsored by Senator Mark Udall, to extend the PTC. He has also partnered with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Udall to introduce the American Energy and Job Promotion Act, a bipartisan bill to extend the PTC for wind and several other renewable energy technologies. In July, he successfully led a bipartisan group of senators urging the Senate Finance Committee to include an extension of the PTC in a tax extenders bill the committee was considering.

Colorado is a wind energy leader, currently generating the third highest percentage of power from wind of any state in the nation. Colorado is home to several major wind energy developers and wind turbine manufacturing facilities, employing upwards of 6,000 workers statewide.

Nationally, expiration of the wind production tax credit could cost as many as 37,000 jobs, according to the American Wind Energy Association.