Federal Inquiry Cast A Shadow On Solar Power Growth. Now, Biden's Granted A Reprieve.
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR
4.5 • 24.9K Ratings
🗓️ 6 June 2022
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
That scared U.S. solar panel installers, who were worried the Commerce Department would impose retroactive fees on projects built during the investigation. Forecasts for new solar energy fell by almost half.
On Monday, President Biden intervened by granting a two-year hiatus on the tariffs and invoking the Defense Production Act to spur domestic manufacturing of climate-friendly technologies including solar components.
This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, White House correspondent Scott Detrow, and national political correspondent Mara Liasson.
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Transcript
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| 0:24.0 | This is Sarah from Greenfield, Massachusetts. I'm currently at the New England Asparagus |
| 0:28.8 | Festival and Hadley and it is poppin. This podcast was recorded at 147 pm Eastern time on |
| 0:36.5 | Monday June 6th. Things may have changed by the time you hear it. Okay, here's the show. |
| 0:45.3 | Hey there, it's the npr. Politics podcast. I'm Usman Hale, I cover the White House. |
| 0:49.5 | He's got Detro, I cover the White House too. And I'm Mara Liason, National Political Correspondent. |
| 0:54.5 | President Biden promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels in half by 2030. |
| 1:00.8 | That is less than eight years away. But that goal hit a big speed bump when the Commerce Department |
| 1:06.2 | began investigating whether solar panel manufacturers in Southeast Asia were evading |
| 1:11.2 | U.S. tariffs on China. The manufacturers in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, |
| 1:16.8 | who make most of the solar panels installed in the United States, get a lot of parts from China. |
| 1:22.4 | The investigation put a lot of major projects all across the U.S. |
| 1:26.3 | on hold. But solar industry did get some sunny news. You all see what I did there from the White House |
| 1:30.9 | today. The president is granting them a two year reprieve from the trade duties, regardless |
| 1:37.2 | of what happens with that Commerce Department investigation. And Scott, I want to begin with you |
| 1:41.4 | because I know that you are covering the story today. It feels like this news could really shake |
| 1:45.6 | up the industry. Yeah, this investigation had really put a halt on the solar industry. You talked |
| 1:50.9 | about those four countries supplying a lot of the imports of solar. We're talking about 80% of |
... |
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