To protect solar jobs and our clean energy progress, we must repeal these new tariffs

With its quick ascent in recent years, solar energy has created thousands of good-paying jobs across the country, employing more than 8,300 people in Nevada alone. With no shortage of sunshine, my state has the fourth largest number of solar jobs in the United States. Roughly 12 percent of solar workers are veterans who have been able to transfer their military experience and skills into a 21st century industry that’s helping diversify Nevada’s economy.

For Nevada’s solar industry, approximately 95 percent of the jobs involve the installation, sales distribution and project development sectors. All of these new jobs depend on the availability of affordable solar panels.

{mosads}Instead of investing in our growing clean energy economy, the Trump administration is reversing some of that progress by leveling a 30 percent tariff on imported solar cells and panels. This action threatens to handicap a $28 billion industry and the hundreds of thousands of workers it supports. In fact, the Solar Energy Industries Association predicts a loss of roughly 23,000 jobs across the U.S. in 2018 because of this tariff. This short-sighted decision is an attack on my constituents and so many Americans whose livelihoods depend on the solar industry.

This past week, I introduced the bipartisan Protecting American Solar Jobs Act in the House with Reps. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), and Steve Knight (R-Calif.). This bipartisan legislation will repeal the ill-conceived duties and tariffs on imported solar panels, allow companies that imported any affected solar products under this new tariff to receive a retroactive reimbursement, and reinstate previous tariff rates.

I’ve long been an advocate for clean energy, and I’ve seen firsthand the positive impact it can have on our communities. As the former president of Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson, I helped lead a team to construct one of the largest solar installations by a nonprofit in Southern Nevada through a public-private partnership. The completed project cut our synagogue’s energy costs by up to 70 percent annually.

Solar technology is driving the future of clean energy for Nevadans and Americans everywhere. We need policies in Washington that will continue to boost the growth of solar – not disrupt it.

Rosen represents Nevada’s 3rd District and is a member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.