American policy, which incentivizes our consumers to purchase China-made solar panels manufactured with inexpensive coal power by low-wage workers, has decimated the U.S. solar industry, made us dependent on an adversary for critical energy infrastructure, and failed as climate policy, given that China is increasing carbon emissions faster than we can reduce them (“Coal Plays Key Role in Making Chinese Panels,” U.S. News, Aug. 2). I will soon introduce legislation to restrict generous federal solar tax credits to panels manufactured at each stage with majority-U.S. inputs. My bill also will require disclosing to consumers the percentage of fossil fuels used to manufacture each brand of solar modules, so environmentally conscious buyers don’t become unwitting subsidizers of fossil fuels.
Rep. Rick Crawford (R., Ark.)
Washington
If solar cells were truly renewable and giving us free energy, one logical use would be to make more of their kind. That no one makes solar cells with solar cells should tell you this is a fraud. Only those solar cells created and commissioned from solar-cell electricity should be eligible for favorable treatment. If a cell comes from a factory with a utility meter or a strip mine that gets diesel-fuel deliveries, then it doesn’t qualify. See what happens to all those solar-panel factories.
