‘Buy American’ boondoggle
The refusal by most Republicans to have anything to do with clean energy or the fight against global warming means the job is being left almost entirely to Democrats, who have a strong grasp of environmental science but often a dim understanding of economics. That can undermine even the most well meaning of environmental initiatives, as a group of Senate Democrats seems determined to do with green-energy projects funded by stimulus dollars.
Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) are leading an effort to freeze payments from a clean-power grant program until Congress can consider a bill they introduced in March. SB 3069 would impose “buy American” rules on such projects, ensuring that taxpayer funds would go only to renewable energy plants that use materials made in the U.S.
Schumer et al say they just want to create American jobs. They were appalled when developers of a huge proposed wind farm in Texas announced they would seek up to $450 million in stimulus funds while buying their wind turbines from a Chinese company.
It’s a good clue that you’re on the wrong track with an initiative meant to encourage renewable energy when it’s opposed by the renewable energy industry. The American Wind Energy Assn. disdains the Schumer proposal because a freeze on stimulus payments would stall the country’s nascent clean-power movement. And buy American rules would have a chilling effect on the industry, in addition to wasting taxpayer dollars.
Government infrastructure projects funded by the stimulus, such as roads and bridges, already must be built using American-manufactured materials. But renewable power plants are more complex, involving a range of high-tech components made all over the world. The solar power business is particularly diverse, with American companies building solar panels overseas and Chinese companies importing materials from the U.S. To say that the buy American provision would make renewable projects more difficult and expensive to build would be an understatement. Overspending government money for the sake of buying American goods is an abuse of taxpayers, and it invites retaliation by our trading partners. That’s no way to build a strong domestic clean-power industry.
The best way for Congress to encourage American companies to build components for renewable power plants is to create a market for them, by imposing a price on carbon emissions and mandating that states get a percentage of their energy from clean sources. Schumer and his cohorts should focus their efforts on getting that done, not moving us backward with misguided protectionism.
