If the U.S. is so intent on creating clean energy jobs at home - through programs like Homestar - why can we not expect the same of American Recovery Act renewable energy projects?

In addition to cash rebates for homeowners who invest in clean energy upgrades, central to President Obama’s announcement of his proposed Homestar Program is the creation of U.S. jobs. Specifically, Obama says he wants to jump-start the flailing construction industry, as homeowners will employ professionals to install more energy-efficient windows, water heaters, insulation, etc.  However, as a group of Democratic senators suggest, if Obama is so concerned with creating jobs in the U.S., why are the majority of materials for U.S. renewable energy investments, for projects like wind and solar, being manufactured in other countries?

U.S. SENATORS WANT RECOVERY ACT JOBS KEPT AT HOME

Coincidentally (or not), Obama’s endorsement Tuesday of the U.S. energy-saving, job-building Homestar Program came on the same day that four U.S. senators wrote to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asking for a moratorium on clean energy investments through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The letter signers include Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania and Jon Tester of Montana.

As noted in the related Associated Press article:

“The lawmakers cited a report by the Investigative Reporting Workshop which found that a majority of the program’s grants went to foreign-owned companies, and that a majority of the turbines purchased with the money were built by foreign manufacturers.”

More to the point, the Senators’ letter to Geithner states:

“A critical Recovery Act priority is investment in the domestic renewable and clean energy industry, not investment in foreign manufacturers.”

WHY ARE WE HELPING CHINA CORNER THE MARKET ON WIND, SOLAR MANUFACTURING?

You may recall this article in The Wall Street Journal in which Rebecca Smith reported that “China is planning on future investments in the U.S. renewable industry as a way of creating a market for Chinese wind and solar equipment manufacturers.

“‘This is just the beginning,’ said Lu Jinxiang, chief executive of A-Power Energy Generation System Ltd., which controls Shenyang Power. He said the U.S. ‘is an ideal target’ as it seeks to shift to renewable energy from fossil fuels.”

As President Obama adamantly expressed in his State of the Union Address in January, “I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders — and I know you don’t either.”

So with China now the world leader in the production of wind and solar technology, the Senators’ concern expressed in yesterday’s letter seems well within reason.

As invaluable as the Homestar program may be to the creation of U.S. construction jobs, it does seem hypocritical and counterproductive to use funds for the American Recovery Act to help further China’s end goal of leading in the manufacture of clean energy technology.

Meredith Simonds Renewable Energy, Solar China, clean energy, construction industry, Democratic senators, Homestar Program, jobs, Obama, Senator Schumer, Solar, Wind