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Urgent Action Needed!

Some immediate action all of us can take on the Federal level:

Friends - We have some very current information on the Transportation bill.
Senator Bennett's Amendment # 1709 to the transportation bill would extend the Production Tax Credit for wind. The Amendment has been filed and negotiations are still on going to determine which amendments will be considered.
As of now (Sunday), the chance of the PTC amendment coming up for a vote is 50-50. That can change as the week moves forward, and we should all be concerned that the amendment will come up for a vote. The best thing we can do is get all the people in your reach to call Senator Portman at (202) 224-3353 and Senator Brown at (202) 224-2315 and urge them to oppose any extension of the wind PTC AND oppose Bennett Amendment # 1709 to the transportation bill.
We have also been asked to call Majority Leader Reid (202) 224-3624 and urge opposition.
Monday and Tuesday are key days this week. Thank you for all of your continued support and wonderful efforts to stop this wasteful spending. Wind has received federal subsidies for twenty years. There has never been a single oversight hearing to see whether it did any good, to understand how many projects have wrecked rural communities, or how the cost of electricity has been impacted.

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