[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 90 (Tuesday, May 24, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2645-S2646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Solar Energy

  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I am here today to spend a few minutes on 
an issue that is profoundly important to Colorado and, I would say, to 
the Presiding Officer's State, as well, without being presumptuous, New 
Mexico, our neighbor to the south.
  In March, the Biden administration launched an investigation into 
whether China is evading solar tariffs. That may seem fine on its face, 
but, in reality, it has taken a sledge hammer to the solar industry in 
Colorado and all across the country.
  There are over 330 solar companies in my State. They have created 
nearly 7,000 jobs and driven close to $5 billion of investment. Our 
companies are leading the Nation. Last year, we nearly quadrupled our 
deployment of solar capacity compared to 2017, and before the Biden 
administration's investigation, we were projected to double or even 
triple that capacity.
  Washington should be lifting up Colorado's success as exactly the 
kind of progress we need to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, which 
we have to do. Instead, the Commerce Department's investigation is 
driving our solar industry out of business, because it could end with a 
massive expansion of tariffs that could drive up costs and cripple that 
sector.
  Worse, the administration has said they might even apply these 
tariffs retroactively. Think about that. If you are a solar company in 
Colorado, you are already dealing with supply chain delays, you are 
already dealing with labor issues, and you are already dealing with 
rising prices and continued uncertainty over the clean energy tax 
credit, because this place can't get its act together to pass 
legislation that can give certainty to American business.
  And now, on top of all of that, you face the prospect of your own 
government sending the price of your supplies through the roof when you 
need that least.
  Businesses can't make decisions with that kind of uncertainty. 
Investors hate that level of uncertainty. And these aren't talking 
points. This is the reality on the ground.
  In Colorado, the price of solar panels is already up 30 to 50 
percent, and we know Colorado families are ultimately going to bear 
that cost, and that it is going to slow our energy transition. Many of 
our solar companies have begun hiring freezes. Some are considering 
major layoffs. Construction workers are losing hundreds of thousands of 
hours. Investors are pulling out of major projects. It has put hundreds 
of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs at risk, which is why I am 
here to ring this alarm.
  More than 90 percent of solar companies surveyed in Colorado report 
``severe'' or ``devastating'' harms to their businesses from this 
investigation by the Commerce Department.
  In my State, we have major solar projects that are frozen in place, 
and if this continues, they may never move forward at all. A lot of 
these projects are in rural counties that are counting on the projects 
being built for jobs and tax revenue. This is the last thing they need 
from Washington.
  A 200-megawatt solar project in Pueblo was just canceled since the 
developer can't get the components they need. Another 150-megawatt 
project in northern Colorado has been delayed. A community solar 
developer told me they have canceled all of their new construction for 
the rest of the year.
  Utilities in my State, like United Power and Tri-State, are ready to 
support hundreds of megawatts in new projects, but our solar companies 
can't submit bids because they don't have the certainty to do it.
  One 80-megawatt project in Watkins is demobilized as they wait for 
solar panels. A project at Denver International Airport is indefinitely 
delayed, and I have heard story after story like this since this 
Commerce Department decision to have this investigation was made.
  If you add it all up, this investigation has put at least 870 
megawatts of new solar capacity at risk in Colorado, and it has put 
more than 50 gigawatts at risk across the entire country. That is 
enough to power nearly 10 million homes.
  I cannot understand why the Biden administration is doing this. You 
can't say, on the one hand, we want to rapidly deploy clean energy and 
then use the other hand to stick a dagger in American solar. You can't 
say we are going to fight climate change and then punch American solar 
in the gut.
  Last year, electricity generation from coal increased--increased--in 
this country for the first time since 2014. And at the same time that 
is happening, now what we are going to say is that we are going to cut 
the deployment of solar panels by a third or by half, as a result of 
this?
  It is crazy. The administration should have viewed that alone--the 
fact that coal is up for the first time since 2014--they should have 
viewed that alone as a reason to increase our investments in clean 
energy, not pursue an investigation that is sabotaging one of the 
fastest growing sectors in Colorado and across the country.
  I also don't understand why the administration would do this at this 
time when we have to find a way to replace Russian oil because of what 
Putin has done in Ukraine, and we should be replacing that with our own 
oil production and with our reserves in this country.
  But you would think that supporting American solar would be on the 
top of the list as one of the best things we can do to diversify our 
energy and protect our security. Instead, the administration has 
paralyzed the industry with this investigation. It is a self-inflicted 
wound on America's clean energy leadership, our energy security, and 
our economy at the worst possible moment.
  I have said this before, and I will say it again. I deeply believe 
that we need to restore critical supply chains, not

[[Page S2646]]

just for solar but for so many areas that are critical to our economy.
  I think the era where we told ourselves the story about why we were 
privileging people who wanted to make stuff as cheaply as possible in 
China instead of privileging other important things, like protecting 
our supply chains, like protecting our national security, like having 
an economy that, when it grows, grows for everybody, not just the 
people at the very top--we have an incredible opportunity to bring 
these supply chains home in order to do that.
  I think reshoring is an essential part of an economy, as I say, that 
works for everybody, not just those at the top, but that is going to 
take time, and we can't drive people out of business today when we 
don't have that supply chain in place. Until then, until we do have it 
in place, we can't cripple America's solar industry. That can't be our 
policy. That can't be the right answer.
  I am sure if the Biden administration understood the facts on the 
ground, it wouldn't be doing what it is doing. The least the 
administration could do is lift the uncertainty off the solar industry 
by coming out and saying: We are dropping this investigation. In fact, 
they should have said: We are going to boost American solar--that is 
what we should be doing--by extending the clean energy tax credits and 
giving businesses certainty over the long term. On top of that, what we 
should be doing is strengthening the credits. And then we are going to 
do everything we can to take every action that we can to clear the path 
for American solar deployment--wind and other types of clean energy--to 
accelerate our transition.
  That is what they should say. Unlike this investigation, that would 
be welcome news in Colorado and, I would say, almost everywhere across 
the country.