As Gas Prices Break Families, Biden Begins Emergency Production - of Solar Panels
Instead of funneling resources to alleviate the pain of soaring gas prices in the U.S., the Biden administration has turned its focus to solar and clean energy.
President Joe Biden will authorize the Defense Production Act to boost the domestic manufacturing of solar panels, CNN reported.
The DFA will allow the Energy Department to speed up production of solar panel components, energy-efficient heat pumps, building insulation, electric transformers and other equipment needed to transform the power grid.
“The White House also announced it will leverage the power of the federal government’s purse for clean energy, using federal procurement to increase U.S. solar manufacturing,” CNN reported.
Along with the DFA, Biden is also using his executive powers to issue a 24-month tariff exemption on imports of solar panels and their parts, NBC News reported.
This tariff exemption is being put in place despite the Department of Commerce trying to run an investigation to look into whether Chinese solar manufacturers have been improperly funneling solar parts through other Asian countries, which has stalled the progress of solar energy in the U.S., NPR reported.
Biden seems intent on boosting solar and clean energy in the U.S. despite the complications.
But due to arguments about climate change and droughts that are causing problems in California, the Biden administration is taking this opportunity to focus on funneling money and manpower to clean energy initiatives.
“What we’re seeing is a confluence of the impacts of climate change — the droughts out West, for example, reducing the output of our hydropower resources,” an official said, CNN reported.
The official then added that it is crucial to deploy more clean energy, like solar, to make up for that lost electricity generation.
In the meantime, however, gas prices are continuing to climb. Americans are feeling the squeeze at the pump and are unhappy about it.
The national gas price average has climbed every day for several days. It is now $4.87 per gallon, AAA reported.
In fact, the price of gas has doubled since Biden took office in January 2021, the New York Post reported.
On Jan. 20, 2021, when Biden took office, the national average cost of a gallon of gas was $2.39.
Americans are not happy with how the economy is looking.
“I’m really unhappy,” Carmen Vega from California told the New York Times. “The economy sucks right now; everything’s too expensive.”
In March, Biden said that he would begin taking action to drive the prices back down.
“I’m laying out a two-part plan not only to ease the pain that families are feeling right now, but to end this era of dependence and uncertainty and to lay a new foundation for true and lasting American energy independence,” the president said, according to White House transcripts.
But now, Biden has said that he can’t really do anything to bring down gas prices.
“We can’t take immediate action that I’m aware of yet to figure out how we’re bringing down the prices of gasoline back to $3 a gallon. And we can’t do that immediately with regard to food prices either,” he said, CNN reported.
Instead, while the gas prices continue to rise, Biden has shifted his focus to clean energy.
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