its time for somebody to set the story straight!!!! Congrats to AWEA for stepping up to the plate to set the public straight!!! How could Shumer use such a poorly written research report as his facts before openning his mouth on something he obviously has not a clue about?????????

Why is ABC NEWS pulling a “”FoX”" news manuever and only reporting one side of the story ?? Controversy ?? U betcha!!!!!

the FOLLOWING BELOW is from the AWEA Website setting the RECORD STRAIGHT! I hope Senator Shumer has the ”’decency”’ to respond and admit ”’he was ”’TAKEN” by some writer who OBVIOUSLY has NOT a clue of what he wrote!!!!! Note to Chuma, if 4000 workers are IN COLORADO and working for Vestas who is a foreign based company, and they are BUILDING WIND TURBINES in USA on USA SOIL, the money spent on STIMULUS did NOT go overseas!!!

AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION RESPONSE TO AMERICAN UNIVERSITY STUDY/ABC WORLD NEWS STORY

ABC World News aired a story on February 9 based on a report by the American University purporting to show how stimulus, or Recovery Act, funds were being used to create jobs overseas. Their story could not be further from the truth. The Recovery Act funds have actually saved jobs and provided an economic stimulus to communities all across America.

Following are examples of inaccuracies and distortions that we believe warrant an on-air correction:

ABC/AU: “But the study found that nearly 80 percent of that money has gone to foreign manufacturers of wind turbines.”

Fact: 100% of Recovery Act money goes to wind projects built in the US. The convertible tax credit program referenced above does not go to turbine manufacturers. Every penny of the money from the Recovery Act is provided as a tax credit for investment in American wind projects built in the U.S. Over 50 percent of turbine value, such as towers, blades, nacelle assembly, and some internal components are made in the US.

ABC/AU: “Most of the jobs are going overseas,” said Russ Choma of the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University (AU).

Fact: Not true. Jobs in construction, transportation, civil and electrical engineering, and operations and maintenance are American and cannot be outsourced. Jobs in these areas were created and saved as a direct result of the Recovery Act and we have substantiated that. The reporter from AU provided no evidence of jobs created elsewhere.

ABC: “Even with the infusion of so much stimulus money, a recent report by American Wind Energy Association showed a drop in U.S. wind manufacturing jobs last year.”

Fact: Jobs increased in wind farm development and decreased in manufacturing ending the year with no losses overall in the industry. Were it not for the Recovery Act, we estimated a loss of as much as 40,000 jobs.

ABC/AU: “Several of the large European turbine manufacturers had limited manufacturing facilities in the United States. One reason so much money is going overseas is that there is not much of a wind power industry in the United States.”

Fact: The U.S. wind industry employs approximately 85,000 workers. In 3 years, we went from 2 turbine manufacturers with facilities in the U.S. to 9 and 4 more have announced plans for factories here. It takes time to ramp up an industry, but the US wind industry been going at full-speed since 2005 and prior to the financial crisis, adding, expanding or announcing over 55 new manufacturing shops in 2008.

These are just a few of the inaccuracies and distortions. Further, we were not given the opportunity to refute any of Mr. Choma’s findings even after we requested to have the opportunity to do so.

these folks UNDERSTAND we need foreign suppliers of wind turbines to attract jobs to America to provide American Jobs from foreign countries on American soil!!!

Iowa Governor Chet Culver says:

“Iowa is very proud of all nine wind manufacturing companies in the state. They are a vital part of Iowa’s economy and we are actively recruiting more. Of the nine companies in Iowa, three are foreign companies. Despite the location of their headquarters, these firms building turbines, gear boxes towers and blades are creating over 2,300 jobs in the state and have also spurred demand from over 200 Iowa companies in their supply chain.”

AWEA CEO Denise Bode says:
Folks

“If the charge is that we are trying to attract global companies to invest in America and create jobs, we plead guilty. We need more American jobs, not less. The American wind industry is proud of its record of creating and sustaining American jobs—85,000 so far, even during this recession. We are proud of all of our members who are investing in the U.S. wind energy market and creating American jobs because they see great opportunity here.”

enough is enough………Shumer, Chuma, American University are plain out LYING to try and influence policy about foreign jobs for wind companies! Shumer is using some paid chump who prepares a report that American University probably endorsed and probably SOLD to Shumer to pay his part in this fraud to get union votes in the upcoming November election. Well, some of us out there can do our “”OWN”" research and we dont have paid chumps like Chuma writing false statistics and making up misleading statements to try and play out in national politics and trying to get votes. Shumer, you should be ASHAMED in using such a phoney and FALSE and “”"MISLEADING FACTUAL”" report before openning your mouth to the masses about something YOU obviously dont have a clue about!!. DOE and Sec Chu calls your report “”FALSE”" and misleading factually and I guess I just come out and call you out………….. Shumer is personally trying to torpedo American wind jobs personally by using false statement reports as facts.

Senator Shumer, why dont YOU try and pass a RENEWABLE ENERGY STANDARDS for wind power going forward so that MORE foreign companies will invest into plants like Gamesa, Vestas, Suzlon and etc , etc………….even APWR , the company you are mouthing off about is trying to build a 1000 job wind turbine manufacturing plant in the USA employing USA workers. When a HONDA or TOYOTA worker cashes his check at the end of the week to buy groceries for his family, do you think that worker cares what company his check reads to buy groceries of whether its a foreign car maker or a domestic bankrupt USA company like GM ???

Enough is ENOUGH SHUMER……..get the FACTS right and quit using chump reports you probably pay for as your defense and your ”’FALSE FACTS”’ to try and influence union clowns about voting for you in the fall!!

here is what the AWEA says about USA WIND JOBS with the FACTS!!!!!

You did the research to see where and by whom each turbine was made for grant-receiving projects, we did it too; the fact that is missing here is regardless of a company’s home country, over 50% of the turbine value of those very specific turbines at the projects receiving the grant was indeed made in America.

The name of the company has almost no bearing on where the parts are made. Towers and blades, making up around 45% of the cost of hardware, are commonly U.S. sourced. Doesn’t matter who you are, transporting large heavy, equipment from abroad just doesn’t make sense when you can make it in America. Also, we just so happen to have a highly skilled American manufacturing workforce perfectly poised to be part of the growing wind industry.

Let’s take your example of Suzlon. The India-based company already set up a 300-person blade manufacturing shop in Pipestone, Minnesota. Their Pipestone facility is one of 13 different blades shops around the U.S. employing over 5,500 jobs and buying millions of dollars of fiberglass and composites from companies like PPG Industries, Owens Corning, and other major U.S. companies.

Gamesa, a Spain-based turbine manufacturer, already has 4 manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania manufacturing nacelles, blades and other components employing 1,100 people. Of course, they need a local supply chain too–a supply chain that currently numbers 100 companies in 24 states.

You are correct in pointing out that the grant is received after the project is already completed. Why? Well, it’s the law. The Recovery Act stated that grant money will only be distributed after a project is online in the U.S., producing power and certified by an engineer. Not one penny of grant money leaves our coffers until a wind project is putting kilowatt-hours into our power grid and powering our homes. It’s not a bad way to make certain that only projects that make it to the finish line receive Recovery Act dollars. Sending grant dollars to a project after it is compete might sound counterintuitive. But the mere certainty of the added capital from the grant program down the road has allowed project developers, against all the odds of the financial crisis, to leverage debt and other capital in the market place, complete financing on a project, and move forward with construction. Those dollars from the grant program have already leveraged billions in private capital, now invested in the U.S. market. Together, the grant program and private capital are fueling an industry forward, keeping our 85,000 Americans at work, activating shovel-ready projects, speeding up construction and generally boosting our economy.

who cares what the uniform or paycheck says at the end of the week when you are cashing that check for groceries for your family??? Do you care if its a foreign company paying for your groceries??? Nope, you want a wind job!

From the AWEA WEBSITE:::

The real story here is that companies hailing from the automobile, trucking and railcar, marine, defense and appliance manufacturing sectors are flocking to the American wind industry to find new business and growth opportunities. German-based Siemens turned a Wabash trucking facility into a nacelle facility in Fort Madison, Iowa. Trinity Industries turned a railcar facility into a tower manufacturing shop in Clinton, Illinois. Vestas committed $1 billion in 4 manufacturing facilities in Colorado. TPI turned an old Maytag shop into a blade facility in Newton, Iowa. Nordic, a new turbine entrant, turned a WWII ship gun facility into a wind manufacturing shop in Pocatello, Idaho. Not all of these companies may be American, but they are sure investing in America in a big way. I hope we don’t turn investment away because their names are unknown.

The U.S. has the historic opportunity here to get American manufacturing jobs–let’s act on it! In a letter to Congress sent 6 months ago, the wind manufacturing industry laid out exactly what it will take to get more wind manufacturing here in America and what is at risk if we don’t act. The story hasn’t changed. We’ve been clear that we want more manufacturing in the U.S. and we are offering the pathway. Build a long-term market, and they will come. Heck, the industry has been saying this since before the Recovery Act, and before the financial crisis. The ball is out of our court now. It’s time for Congress to pass comprehensive legislation with a strong renewable commitment, the Renewable Electricity Standard

who cares if your uniform says Denmark, Spain, or Germany, or Indian when making a Wind Turbine?? This is like making cars in America, your uniform may say one company but your paycheck buys groceries for your family…………….

We all want the same thing, more American manufacturing jobs. The wind industry is ready, willing and able to make them happen. The wind industry went from a few thousand American manufacturing jobs a few years ago to over 20,000 today and we aren’t stopping there – we want to keep these people at work and attract even more American manufacturing jobs, don’t you?

Yet, the ongoing media ‘investigation” still lacks the full truth about the wind industry and manufacturing.

Media is missing the boat, and for that matter the opportunity to get American jobs, by being so wrapped up in the name on someone’s work uniform. German, Danish, Spanish, Asian, Indian and American companies are all part of building an American manufacturing industry for wind. Try this one on for size: almost all wind turbine manufacturers that supplied the U.S. in 2008 have American manufacturing facilities already in the ground or publicly announced–GE, Vestas, Siemens, Suzlon, Gamesa, Clipper, Mitsubishi, Acciona, Fuhrlander, DeWind, and EWT; and even more manufacturers are opening up U.S shops in the near future. These are our household names — building turbines in America, for America.

We went from domestically producing less than 25% of the value wind turbines here in America a few years ago, to 50% today, and we are just getting started. Since the wind installations also increased dramatically during those same few years, our domestic manufacturing capabilities have actually increased 12-fold since 2004 to keep up and expand our domestic content. We’ve added, announced or expanded over 100 manufacturing facilities since 2007 alone, representing nearly $3 billion invested in American manufacturing infrastructure. Eleven new turbine manufacturers, foreign and U.S.-based, set up shop in the U.S. or announced facilities in the past few years. Some turbine manufacturers even have internal goals for 70%, 80% domestic content or more. This all sounds like a positive trend toward more domestic manufacturing to me.

The truth is that the wind story is amazing. The wind industry built an American manufacturing sector when no one was looking. But it’s here – it’s in Iowa, Michigan, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, California, and North Dakota. As a matter of fact, there are wind-related manufacturing facilities across more than 40 states. What is better than that? The wind industry is ready to build more American-based manufacturing, with plans for new facilities popping up across the country, and states are aggressively competing for these jobs. Iowa, a leader in wind manufacturing, has attracted thousands of wind-related manufacturing jobs in the past few years, U.S. and foreign companies alike, and they couldn’t be more excited. Acciona and Siemens are household names in Iowa, employing hundreds, alongside American companies like Clipper and TPI.

The story gets better. Wind manufacturing jobs are just one part of our dynamic industry – the wind industry has construction workers, crane operators, highly-skilled wind technicians, mechanical, electrical and civil engineers, meteorologists, truck drivers, manufacturing line managers, environmental specialists, lawyers, bankers, accountants, and project developers. Yes, we have over 20,000 manufacturing jobs directly employed by the wind industry and want more, but we also have another 65,000 jobs across the economy.

Media Mayhem: A trade war in the wind
Histrionics over foreign companies getting renewable energy contracts could lead to protectionism.
By Ken EdelsteinMon, Mar 08 2010 at 7:39 AM EST

It sounds good: Insist that American money from the American stimulus plan — paid for by American taxpayers — be spent on equipment manufactured by American companies that create American jobs. Enough of that foreign crap.

That’s what Charles Schumer and three other Democratic senators now want the administration to require for the clean energy part of the President Obama’s stimulus act. They’re so keen on the idea that last week they announced plans to file a bill to force the White House to enforce such a “Buy American” provision. Schumer even issued a “demand” on Thursday that the White House “suspend” the one-year-old stimulus’ renewable energy grants “immediately.”

ABC News responded to the senators’ umbrage with barely concealed celebration. “Stimulus Jobs in China? Senators Angry About Money Going Overseas” blared a headline on the network’s website. Why the big stink? Well, ABC was the network that broke the story last month that $450 million in grants are going toward a massive wind farm in Texas that will generate only 300 American construction jobs, while the Chinese company building the turbines gets 2,000 jobs.

Well, technically, if you want to be accurate about it, the story was uncovered by a small shop called the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. But ABC’s happy to take credit; that’s the way things work on network broadcasting.

Nothing like four senators holding a press conference calling for action on just what your story was about — less than a month after it aired, mind you — to show what a great reporter you are and what a powerful news organization you work for.

But news frenzies like this one — especially when they turn on the jingoistic emotions unleashed by shooting wars and trade wars — take on a sort of unthinking fervor, an atmosphere that’s not exactly conducive to calmly considered, smart policies. If we didn’t know it already, surely we learned from last year’s town-hall meetings that by the time the mob picks up pitch forks and lights torches, it’s too late to parse truth from fiction. That’s particularly the case when the mob includes U.S. senators and major media outlets.

This particular riot began in October when the Investigative Reporting Workshop’s Russ Chuma reported that 84 percent of renewable energy grants up until that point had gone to foreign companies — mainly to wind turbine manufacturers. Last month, Chuma updated the number to 79 percent. A bit better, but still mighty difficult to swallow. It made a difference that ABC was now “partnering” with Chuma on the story.

Then, after media talking heads and politicians had a month to stew and stomp over the issue, the Energy Department finally came up with its public rejoinder. According to the NY Times, a senior adviser to Energy Secretary Stephen Chu, “called the American University report ‘at best, misleading’ and ‘factually false.’ It may have kept track of locations of companies’ headquarters but failed to identify the location of jobs created, which was in the United States.”

The Energy Department says wind turbine components going into American facilities are only 40 percent to 50 percent foreign-made, because many of those components are made in American factories even if the contract is with a foreign company. That number didn’t make it into reports by the Workshop or ABC.

COMMENTS by ME::: IF Vestas has four plants in Colorado and employs 3000 workers making wind turbines, does Chuma falsely report the numbers to Denmark given Vestas is foreign. ???

too bad Senator Shumer cannot figure out the math of 70% of hundreds of thousands of Wind Jobs is better than zero of NOTHING”"!

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday that an effort by Democratic lawmakers to block federal stimulus grants for energy projects that use foreign-made hardware could cost U.S. jobs.

“There are unintended consequences by just coming out and saying, Buy American,” Dr. Chu said. “I do not want a moratorium. We have 9-10% unemployment. You do not want to stop these projects if 2/3 [of the hardware] is American and 1/3 is foreign.” In remarks on the sidelines of the conference, Dr. Chu said he will “work with people in Congress to explain the subtleties” of the global wind-energy market.

A group of Democratic senators earlier this week proposed legislation to block the Energy Department from using stimulus funds to subsidize wind-energy projects that use foreign-made turbines. One target is a proposed wind-energy project in Texas where the backers plan to use wind turbines made with Chinese components. The senators said in a statement that the clean-energy grant program has paid out more than $1 billion to foreign manufacturers.

“The point of the stimulus was to create jobs in America, and to turn down this opportunity to strengthen domestic manufacturing of wind turbines, solar panels and other clean-energy technology defies common sense,” Sen. Charles Schumer’s office said in a statement Friday.

Dr. Chu, during an appearance at The Wall Street Journal Eco:Nomics conference here, said congressional demands that the Energy Department not fund projects that use foreign-made technology could force a halt to projects that promise to create U.S. jobs.

The flareup over wind energy is the latest in a series of problems the administration has faced because of congressional efforts to mandate that stimulus funds go to purchase only U.S.-made goods. The Buy American demands have exacerbated trade frictions, and slowed down the progress of some stimulus projects.

On other issues, Dr. Chu defended the administration’s decision to abandon a plan to construct a nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., and said the facility as planned would have run out of room in a couple of decades as more nuclear plants were built.

“Rather than wringing my hands…let’s go forward and do something better,” he said. The administration’s decision has drawn fire from big utilities who are concerned that they could face constraints in developing new nuclear power plants if there is no long-term waste storage in the U.S. Dr. Chu expressed confidence the industry will ultimately support what he called ” a fresh look” at the problem.

Dr. Chu also said he wants Congress to pass a strong bill to put a price on carbon this year, and said reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is “an economic opportunity” to develop clean-energy technology in the U.S.

“China is moving $9-10 billion a month…they want to be a leader in this new technology. It’s ours to lose, but we could blow it,” Dr. Chu said. He said U.S. businesses can adapt to higher energy prices by becoming more efficient and adopting new technology.

Write to Joseph B. White at joseph.white@wsj.com

great counter point to the Senator Shumer now hates the Chinese Green Energy leadership!

Senator Schumer and others who seek to bar Chinese manufacturers from stimulus funds are missing the point. Keeping foreign companies from stimulus funding is a misplaced effort to treat the symptom not the problem.

If the U.S. policy environment continues to focus on short-term measures to spur demand, we will consistently see investment accrue to foreign imports. If we want domestic manufacturers to supply the technology to meet our clean energy needs, the U.S. needs both long-term support for manufacturing capacity as well as consistent, targeted deployment incentives to create a stable domestic market. Equally important in the long-run will be large investments in research and innovation that can secure U.S. technological leadership and ensure the next generation of clean energy technologies are invented and commercialized here in the U.S.

Until the U.S. gets serious about a coordinated, consistent, and aggressive package of policies supporting U.S. clean energy innovation, manufacturing and markets, we will continue to see short-term bursts of funding, like the stimulus-funded cash grant program, end up invested in foreign innovation and technology.

Compliments to Breakthrough.org

when the company has offices in NEW YORK, its ok to send money to foreign companies………

Iberdrola Renewables awarded $300 million in federal grants
Written by Weston Sedgwick
Wednesday, 02 September 2009 00:00

LOS ANGELES – Iberdrola Renewables Inc on Tuesday said it received approval for nearly $300 million in federal stimulus funds to support wind energy projects in four U.S. states.

The five grants total $294.9 million and were awarded to wind projects in Texas, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and two projects in Oregon, Iberdrola said in a press release.

The U.S. Treasury Department, which approved the grants, is expected to act on three more of the company’s grant applications this month, the company said.

The grants were authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in lieu of renewable energy production tax credits (PTCs) typically provided to wind generation facilities. Grants were awarded to the Penascal Wind Project (Texas), Moraine II Wind Project (Minnesota), Locust Ridge II Wind Project (Pennsylvania), and Hay Canyon and Pebble Springs Wind Projects (Oregon).

“The approval of these grants today is a key event for Iberdrola Renewables,” said Ralph Currey, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Switching from the PTC to the grant program was made necessary by the collapse of U.S. financial markets last fall. This change will enable our company and others to keep investing in new renewable energy while the financial markets mend. Thanks to the grant program, Iberdrola Renewables is proceeding with new renewable investments in 2009 and will continue to do so next year and beyond.”

Currey said the company expects the Treasury to act on three additional grant applications this month. In addition, Iberdrola Renewables presently has five wind projects under construction which would be eligible for the grants as well. These projects, in Arizona, Illinois, North Dakota, Oregon, and Texas, are part of the company’s US renewable energy investment plan that is expected to place an additional $6 billion of capital investment in renewable energy facilities in the US through 2012.

Iberdrola Renewables is a unit of Spain’s Iberdrola SA.

boy, its bad when the DOE even calls your reports “”"MISLEADING and ””FACTUALLY FALSE””

Great article from New York Times on the Shumer follies of stopping jobs for America trying to block China wind farm in Texas………….

March 4, 2010
DOE Disputes Senators’ Claims of Stimulus Grants Flowing Overseas By KATHERINE LING of Greenwire
The Energy Department official overseeing DOE stimulus spending said today that suspending renewable energy grants as urged by Senate Democrats would hurt domestic job creation.

“Halting the program at this point would not be helpful for jobs,” Matt Rogers, senior adviser to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation yesterday that would restrict grants to companies that rely on materials manufactured in the United States and create the bulk of jobs domestically (E&ENews PM, March 3).

Schumer cited a report by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University that states 79 percent of the $2 billion in renewable energy grants doled out from the stimulus went to foreign companies, as well as a controversial proposal by a U.S.-China joint venture to apply for $450 million in funding from the stimulus.

But Rogers called the American University report “at best, misleading” and “factually false.” It may have kept track of locations of companies’ headquarters but failed to identify the location of jobs created, which was in the United States.

If the stimulus funds are suspended, it creates uncertainty and so any projects going forward now will pause and any workers just hired “we will have to lay those people off,” Rogers said.

Rogers said DOE has not even seen an application from the proposed China-U.S. joint venture highlighted in the report, which said the project would create hundreds of U.S. construction jobs but thousands of manufacturing jobs in China.

“Until we have a project application, we have nothing to evaluate,” Rogers said.

The proposed U.S.-China venture would build a 648-megawatt wind farm in West Texas, generating enough power to light 135,000 homes. The venture is made up of China’s Shenyang Power Group, Texas-based Cielo Wind Power and the U.S. Renewable Energy Group.

Rogers added that the United States has a manufacturing shortfall, which is why Congress should expand the $2.3 billion renewable energy manufacturing tax credit, which was oversubscribed 3 to 1.

“We need to manage our supply and demand together,” Rogers said.

The U.S. stimulus incentives for manufacturing and development “have created the most attractive market for investment and job program in the world,” he added.