Wyoming lawmakers are again talking about raising the state’s tax on wind power and other renewable energy as a way to reduce a projected budget shortfall of over a billion dollars in the next few year.
The Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee talked to Montana lawmakers Monday about their state’s electricity taxes. A study found that raising Wyoming’s wind energy tax to $4 per megawatt hour would bring in an additional $1.9 billion as long it didn’t impede wind power development.
Several previous attempts to raise Wyoming’s $1 per megawatt hour wind generation tax enacted in 2012 have been unsuccessful. Opponents argue a higher tax would raise electricity costs and deter investment in renewable energy.