Colorado's U.S. Senator Mark Udall said Vestas’s decision to lay off an undisclosed number of employees at its Pueblo production facility is “disconcerting” and underlines the real-life consequences of congressional inaction on extending the wind Production Tax Credit.

“For months I have been calling on Congress to reauthorize the wind Production Tax Credit, which provides critical support to keep wind manufacturing jobs in Colorado and the United States,” Udall said. “Vestas’s announcement today of its decision to lay off workers in Pueblo shows the real-life effect of Congress’s refusal to pass the wind PTC as soon as possible. Our decision to wait until the fall when we knew this was a problem places not only good-paying jobs at risk, but also slows our nation’s progress toward true energy independence. We should not let partisanship undercut the U.S. wind manufacturing industry and our Colorado communities.”

Udall has been one of the key congressional leaders urging renewal of the wind Production Tax Credit, including delivering 15 speeches on the Senate floor, where colleagues from both sides of the aisle also joined him to show their support.

Earlier this month, Udall called for and then praised a bipartisan effort to move the wind Production Tax Credit through the Senate Finance Committee. Udall also recently joined with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) to reauthorize the wind Production Tax Credit as an amendment to the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act.

Udall also has written guest columns on the need to pass the wind Production Tax Credit for the Pueblo Chieftain and the Northern Colorado Business Report.