Senators also urged the Administration to prioritize implementation of solar provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act
WASHINGTON – Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, along with a group of senators, urged the Administration to extend the two-year pause on new solar tariffs to protect Arizona jobs and consumers. The senators also urged the Administration to prioritize implementation of solar provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act.
“If we are serious about investing in a clean energy future and creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, we need to ensure that solar projects across the U.S. have access to the basic components needed to operate, grow, and thrive. While the Department of Commerce rightfully narrowed the scope of its decision as compared to the original petition, we are concerned that this decision will still harm domestic solar efforts, hinder our clean energy goals, and hurt American jobs. In order to continue supporting such a critical industry and protecting good-paying American jobs, we urge the Biden Administration to take additional action by extending the two-year pause on new solar tariffs and expediting the implementation of the solar provisions, including the solar manufacturing tax credits, from the Inflation Reduction Act,” said the senators.
The senators’ statement follows the U.S. Department of Commerce’s preliminary determination on its investigation into solar panels and cells imported from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. This investigation has caused widespread cancellations and delays in the U.S. solar industry and threatened to expand harmful job-killing tariffs on solar imports – raising costs for Arizona consumers.
The solar industry employs more than 8,000 Arizonans. According to a Solar Energy Industries Association report, 70% of American companies indicate that at least half of their solar workforce is at risk because of this investigation.
Earlier this year, Sinema, Kelly, and a bipartisan group of senators urged the President to bring the investigation to a quick conclusion. Thanks to Sinema and Kelly’s efforts, the Administration announced in June a two-year suspension of solar tariffs that could have otherwise eliminated American jobs and increased solar costs, in addition to a new plan to use the Defense Production Act to boost domestic solar manufacturing.