North Dakota Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturer Axing Jobs Due To Uncertainty Of Subsidies
If there’s one certainty about wind power, it’s that wind power certainly doesn’t work unless it’s propped up by heavy government subsidies.
LM Wind Power, one of Grand Forks’ largest manufacturers, announced Tuesday that it would lay off more than 300, citing weak demand and uncertain political support for the industry.
The reductions include 200 full-time production workers, 15 administrative staff workers and approximately 130 temporary workers and contractors, according to the company’s statement.
LM’s remaining workforce is 270, according to Dan Gordon, the company’s human resources manager. The laid-off workers will stay on the job until Nov. 30. …
The announcement blamed industrywide contraction and federal inaction over the Production Tax Credit, a key wind subsidy set to expire at the end of the year.
U.S. demand for new wind power is likely to fall by 70 percent in 2013, the announcement stated, forcing the company to cut workers.
The reaction from some quarters will be to blame those opposing the extension of wind subsidies for these job losses, but that’s not accurate. The people we should be blaming are those who supported subsidies for wind in the first place, creating a jobs bubble that was inevitably going to pop once it became clear that no amount of subsidies is going to make wind practical in the energy markets.
Tags: green energy, lm wind power, North Dakota News, wind power
