The tax relief bill approved by Congress last week extends tax credits to wind energy and ethanol producers. Among the states expected to benefit from the extension are Texas, the nation's leading wind energy producer, and Iowa, the leading ethanol maker.

The American Wind Energy Association said as many as 37,000 jobs could have been lost beginning in the first quarter of the year if the production tax credits had not been renewed. The wind industry employs about 75,000 workers.

Governors from 28 states had called on Congress to renew the wind production tax credit – or PTC – which was first enacted in 1992 and supported by prominent Republicans. Lately, however, conservative House Republicans have opposed renewal of the wind credits and elimination was written into the GOP party platform in August.

The PTC is an income tax credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first 10 years of electricity production from large-scale wind turbines.

The bill allows companies to apply for the credit if they begin construction on a plant in 2013 and finish it by the end of 2014. Earlier versions would have required construction to be finished by the end of the year to qualify for the credit.

The bill also extends a $1.01-per-gallon tax credit for cellulosic ethanol made from corn plants, grasses, wood and sources other than corn kernels. The bill adds algae as another source material that will be eligible for the tax credit.

Ethanol makers will be allowed to continue to depreciate equipment for new plants placed in service in 2013, and the bill extends biodiesel production tax incentives for two years. Those measures are aimed at encouraging increased production of fuel from renewable sources.

Gas stations that want to install pumps capable of distributing E85, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline or those who add 15 percent ethanol – or E15 – pumps also can get a tax credit under the bill. PD

—From AP Newsfinder