© Courtesy of Washington Examiner FILE: Employees at NY State Solar, a residential and commercial photovoltaic systems company, install a rooftop solar panel on August 11, 2022 in Long Island, Massapequa Township, New York. According to a climate scientist who conducted an independent analysis of the climate package, the massive clean energy stimulus in the US law signed into law by President Joe Biden on Tuesday, August 16, is expected to be "reduced not by much, but by a small amount." (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)A House committee has proposed a resolution to rescind President Joe Biden's solar emergency declaration, which was issued to protect imports of Asian solar products from tariffs until next summer.
The bipartisan vote shows support for expanding tariffs on solar cell and module imports from four Asian countries, many of which the Commerce Department said in December have bypassed existing tariffs on Chinese solar cell imports but are shielded from tariffs under Biden's order.
BIDEN SUN GET GOOD
"This resolution is only about enforcement," said Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), who co-sponsored the resolution.
The bipartisan Congressional Review Act, introduced in January by Dan Kildee (D-MI) and Bill Posey (R-FL), pits the interests of domestic solar manufacturing against the end of the solar industry, including developer projects that use more expensive products. cheap to build import panels from solar panels.
Biden preempted the Commerce Department investigation last June when he declared a solar emergency to protect imports from rising tariffs and ensure the uninterrupted flow of goods. He justified the move on the grounds that it would lower energy prices and combat climate change.
Major renewable energy lobby groups, including the Solar Energy Industries Association, have campaigned against the rate hike. Imports from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, the four countries protected by Biden's declaration, accounted for about 80% of all imports of solar cells and modules.
The White House said the emergency measures were taken "to ensure we have a reliable supply of the components developers need to build clean energy projects that feed the grid" as domestic solar production grows.
Domestic cell and module makers pushed for the resolution after Commerce released its preliminary findings in December, arguing that Biden's solar emergency allows Chinese manufacturers operating in four Asian countries to circumvent U.S. antidumping laws to its detriment.
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Democrats who opposed the resolution on Wednesday argued that the resolution would prevent the deployment of solar technology, which has been stifled by renewable energy subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Rep. Rep. Mike Thompson (R-Calif.) said the resolution would come at the expense of American jobs and would "immediately bail out that effort," citing the new law's subsidies.
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Tags: solar energy, news, energy and environment, tariffs, news
Original author: Jeremy Beaman
Original location: House committee votes to remove Biden's solar emergency
