Solar panels from China will solve all our energy problems! That was the gist of Biden’s egregious and unnecessary use of the Defense Production Act yesterday.

President Biden drew criticism Monday after invoking the Defense Production Act to potentially expedite the production of solar panels — with journalists and Republicans questioning the rationale for using special wartime powers.

Renewable energy advocates, meanwhile, cheered the White House announcement that Biden would invoke the act “to accelerate domestic production of clean energy technologies, including solar panel parts.”

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) tweeted, “Biden’s irresponsible & arguably constitutionally corrupt misuse of the Defense Production Act should concern every American. The DPA isn’t a get out of jail free card to cover for lazy & inept governance, which is exactly how this administration uses it.”

Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) questioned Biden’s priorities, tweeting, “Can’t find baby formula for your newborn? Can’t afford to fill up your gas tank? Don’t worry, @POTUS will have new solar panels ready in no time…”

Indeed. Yesterday gas here in our neck of the woods (Northern Colorado) went up to nearly $5 a gallon. Diesel is at or over $6 a gallon in many places, and many gas stations are putting limits on how much can be purchased. A $75 cap at some, $100 cap at others, and truckers are having to get waivers in order to fill up their tanks so they can deliver goods, services, and food. At the store, baby formula is still non-existent on the shelves. 

Biden has also blocked oil and gas leases in Alaska, yet is resuming the approval of leases elsewhere, albeit a smaller number than in the past. Furthermore,  Biden’s idea to help ease the pain at the pump is to further drain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to get more gas and diesel to the pump. Will that lower prices? Nope, not one bit!

So, what does the Administration do yesterday while studiously ignoring D-Day for the second year in a row? Hand China money for solar panels. This will somehow boost American manufacturing of solar panels, therefore also solving the energy grid issues. No more rolling blackouts! Except that California, Texas, and others are warning that rolling blackouts WILL happen this summer, unless people decide it’s perfectly fine to swelter in 90 degree heat with 110% humidity…

Here’s the thing about the use of the Defense Production Act, the Biden Administration is now considering it as the go-to solution for everything. The issue is, the Defense Production Act is only to be used in times of WAR or major significant emergency.

Instead, we are sending money to China for solar panels and waiving tariffs. 

Are we at war with China? Is China holding solar panels hostage? How will opening up the China solar panel market help our soaring energy prices right now? Guess what? It won’t help now nor in the future. Keep in mind, it’s easier and faster to scale up more oil and gas production than it is to manufacture solar panels, build a field of panels in the middle of nowhere, and throw more power lines onto the landscape and send power to a few thousand more homes and businesses. 

This is an EMERGENCY according to the Biden Administration. 

A reporter asks what emergency has prompted Joe Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act to build solar panels.

KJP: "The president, when he takes the Defense Production Act, it's to make sure that he's delivering for the American people." pic.twitter.com/2VvkU9Cr9c

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 6, 2022

Did you catch that? The White House can’t even explain why this is such an emergency. 

KJP: The emergency that allows Biden to invoke authority under the Tariff Act is "a threat to the availability of sufficient electricity generation capacity to meet expected customer demand." pic.twitter.com/jEULGQQCIy

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 6, 2022

Once again for those in the back, bringing in solar panels from China and waiving tariffs won’t solve today’s issues. It just kicks the can down the road. Power companies such as Texas’ ERCOT and California’s PG&E have had years and billions of $$ to build up their energy grids, the fact that both of those entities have seen massive grid failures isn’t due to climate change, it’s due to poor management. 

The solar industry is only alive today because of the government subsidies. This invoking of the Defense Production Act is just another way of subsidizing an industry that will always have a negative ROI. Remember Solyndra and that failure? 

Solar panel start-up Solyndra was the first company to get government-backed loans from ARRA after its passage, collecting $535 million and receiving a $25 million tax break from California’s agency for alternative energy.

~Snip

But the company misled the U.S. Department of Energy in its application, and about two-and-a-half years after receiving the funds, filed for bankruptcy, laid off its 1,100 employees, and shut down all operations.

Solyndra wasn’t the only company that failed miserably, it was just one of the most visible. 

Suddenly shoveling money into China’s coffers to bring solar panels over here isn’t the fix the Biden Administration thinks it is. It’s a purely political move to show that the Administration is DOING SOMETHING to fix the problems they created. 

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Feature Photo Credit: Solar panel, sun via Pixabay, cropped and modified