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SOLAR’S ‘BREATHING ROOM:’ The Commerce Department’s anti-circumvention investigation is ongoing, but solar interests are talking like it’s over now that President Joe Biden moved to ensure no new tariffs will be imposed on cell and module imports from Asia for two years, regardless of the probe’s outcome.
The Solar Energy Industries Association, which has led the lobbying effort against Commerce’s probe to ensure that solar imports from four Asian countries remain duty-free, took a victory lap yesterday over Biden’s decision during a call with member companies.
Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO, welcomed the “breathing room” provided by Biden’s emergency declaration and praised members for going public with the difficulties that the threat of new tariffs have posed to their businesses.
Those difficulties have ranged from canceled supply orders to higher prices and limited new project planning.
“We acted like a much more sophisticated industry that understands how to effectively tell our story about the impact that a policy or decision is having on us,” Hopper said yesterday.
Now, prove the worth: Biden’s decision to preempt new tariffs has proven extremely controversial, leaving domestic solar manufacturing interests angered that he neutered a remedy they have to achieve a more level playing field with the Chinese-based manufacturers whose products overwhelmingly supply U.S. and broader global solar markets.
Hopper seemed to give a nod to that controversy yesterday, beckoning members to highly publicize solar projects that advance from now on to demonstrate that Biden’s tariff bridge was worth the effort.
“One of the things that the administration is really looking for is for projects to start being built again and for supply to come in and for you to get back to work,” Hopper said.
“The president needs that kind of affirmation that the decisions he made are having a direct impact on interrupting the energy crisis that he found and the supply chain crisis that he found,” she said.
One point of agreement: Developers and manufacturers are split on the merits of tariffs, but both agree in principle that the U.S. needs to make more solar products at home and that it’s going to take acts of Congress to enable more manufacturing.
“We need those imports now, but we also need to transition to more domestic manufacturing,” John Smirnow, SEIA’s general counsel and vice president of market strategy, said yesterday.
A word on the DPA: In light of that, Biden’s use of the Defense Production Act doesn’t cut it, manufacturers say.
Several outlets have charted out the constraints to Biden’s invocation of the DPA to produce more solar components domestically, including that the federal fund Biden would have to use to stand up new facilities is limited and is currently being used for other purposes, including to acquire baby formula.
“There’s really no money behind the claim,” one manufacturing industry source told Jeremy.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Jeremy Beaman (@jeremywbeaman) and Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep). Email [email protected] or [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
KERRY: ‘PUSH BACK HARD’ ON POLICIES FAVORING MORE FOSSIL FUELS: Climate envoy John Kerry is staying out in front of policies that favor new fossil fuel development, arguing that while world leaders need to get through the energy crisis in the short-term, they also must not do so by permanently compromising on climate change mitigation efforts.
“You have this new revisionism suggesting that we have to be pumping oil like crazy, and we have to be moving into long term [fossil fuel] infrastructure building, which would be absolutely disastrous,” Kerry said yesterday at Time’s TIME 100 event. “We have to push back, and we have to push back hard.”
Kerry also acknowledged Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine could stall international efforts to fight climate change, noting that it had “interrupted the momentum” world leaders had developed at last year’s UN climate summit in Glasgow.
“We left Glasgow in what was much more [of a] forward leaning accomplishment than most people have caught on to,” Kerry said of the COP26 summit.
And while the war has prompted leaders, including President Biden, to support increasing fossil fuel exports to Europe, Kerry warned that they should not make such changes permanent: “We have to get through the crisis,” he said. “To get through the crisis you need to obviously maintain political stability.”
The surge in global energy costs “will change politics,” Kerry said. “And that’s probably exactly what Putin wants. We have to stand strong and fight back.” Read more from the interview here.
ACTIVISTS SUE EPA ALLEGING CLEAN AIR ACT VIOLATIONS: Environmental activists sued the EPA yesterday, arguing the agency is falling short on obligations under the Clean Air Act to mitigate smog pollution in multiple cities, including Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, and Washington, D.C.
The EPA “was legally obligated to determine by February and March 2022 whether these cities cleaned up their air enough to meet the 2015 [National Ambient Air Quality Standards],” environmental law group Earthjustice, which is representing the plaintiffs, explained. “They didn’t, and are now subject to stronger protections.”
Plaintiffs asked a D.C. federal court to declare the agency to be in violation of its duties for missing the deadline and to order it to make determinations about relevant cities’ smog pollution levels.
SENATE DEMOCRAT SPARKS BACKLASH WITH EV COMMENT: Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said yesterday it “doesn’t matter” how high gas prices go because she drives an electric vehicle, sparking backlash online as gas prices in the U.S. continue to climb to record highs.
Stabenow’s remarks came during a Senate Finance Committee hearing to discuss Biden’s FY2023 budget. When the subject turned to record-high fuel costs, Stabenow chimed in: “I do have to say, just on the issue of gas prices, after waiting for a long time to have enough chips in this country to finally get my electric vehicle, I got it and drove it from Michigan to here this last weekend and went by every single gas station, and it didn’t matter how high it was,” she said.
Stabenow added she is “looking forward to the opportunity for us to move to vehicles that aren’t going to be dependent on the whims of the oil companies and the international markets” and stressed the role that supply chain problems have had in hampering EV production and driving up costs.
Industry officials have acknowledged that while EVs may save drivers money over time, their high upfront costs make them too costly for many U.S. consumers. According to Kelley Blue Book, the average cost of an electric vehicle is $56,437 — roughly $10,000 more than the industry average. It’s also just $2,797 below the median annual household income in Michigan, which stands at $59,234, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Read more from Breanne here.
EIA FORECASTING HIGHER GAS DEMAND: U.S. natural gas demand is expected to rise by 3% this year to average 85.3 billion cubic feet per day, according to updated Energy Information Administration forecasts published yesterday.
Demand is rising across all sectors, including residential, commercial, and industrial, EIA said.
The Rundown
Washington Post A factory wants to reopen making ‘green’ aluminum. Now it just needs clean energy
Bloomberg Gas exporters see growing support for East Coast plant in Canada
Financial Times Critics take aim at ‘wild west’ carbon offset market
Associated Press Off-grid living beckons more than just hardy pioneer types
Calendar
THURSDAY | JUNE 9
10:00 a.m. 366 Dirksen The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to examine the White House’s budget request for the U.S. Forest Service for fiscal year 2023.
