The decision to extend renewable energy tax credits should be an easy one for the U.S. Senate.

Republicans and Democrats alike have championed these incentives for the solar and wind industries. Voters, too, have shown strong support for clean energy initiatives. But so far, political squabbling and parliamentary maneuvering have trumped common-sense public policy.

The Senate repeatedly has refused to pass a bill that would renew tax credits scheduled to expire at year's end.

While lawmakers are busy bickering, nascent clean energy industries are finding themselves on shaky ground. The specter of disappearing incentives has forced wind and solar developers to put projects on hold. Continued inaction will have significant economic and environmental consequences.

A recent study found that allowing the credits to expire could mean as much as $19 billion in lost investment. Texas, which produces more wind energy than any other state, probably would be hit hard.

Expansion of the wind and solar industries not only would create jobs, but would curtail our reliance on polluting power plants that spew greenhouse gases.

Congress has traveled this path before, and lawmakers know where it ends. When the credits were allowed to lapse in the past, the number of new wind and solar projects plummeted.

In recent years, though, momentum for clean energy has been building. In Texas, the Public Utility Commission's decision to construct $5 billion worth of transmission lines to carry wind power from the western half of the state is evidence that renewable resources are an essential part of our energy future.

The Senate could take another swing at the tax credits bill before packing up and leaving for the August recess. Extending the incentives must be done immediately. Otherwise, Congress could knock the wind out of clean energy industries.