Four Democratic Senators want the Obama administration to impose ‘buy American’ rules on stimulus spending for renewable energy projects, according to a New York Times report.
Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Jon Tester of Montana called for a halt in spending until such rules were in place. And they introduced legislation that would create the rules.
They point to a study done by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University found that 79% of the $2 billion in clean-energy grants allocated since Sept. 1, 2009, has gone to foreign wind companies.
However, the Department of Energy and several other independent agencies have responded, saying the senators based their case on misleading information and that if they go through with their suspension of the program, thousands of renewable energy jobs will be lost. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) warned that the senators’ proposal "would torpedo one of the most successful job creation efforts of the Recovery Act, which has already preserved half of the 85,000 American jobs in the U.S. wind industry."
It added: "We do not have the capability today to produce 100% of wind turbine components in the U.S., but we can grow our manufacturing base and add 274,000 American jobs if Congress passes a strong Renewable Electricity Standard."
Matt Rogers, senior adviser to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the report tracked where company headquarters are located, but did not track where manufacturing jobs were created–in the US, he said.
He also noted that the US has a manufacturing shortfall and that lawmakers should expand the current renewable energy manufacturing tax credit.
Read additional New York Times coverage at the link below.
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