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Sierra Club on Free Trade |
Senators Joe Manchin and Mark Kirk introduced Senate bill S. 819, proposing reauthorization of the Bank at the expense of the President's Climate Action Plan, with the goal to continue financing coal plants.
The Sierra Club states that Senator Shaheen has provided common-sense legislation that offers a first step toward a meaningful pathway for the reauthorization of Ex-Im, and has done so without compromising our air, our water, and the health of our families. It makes both financial and environmental sense for the U.S. and all of its taxpayer-backed financial institutions--including Ex-Im--to stop investing in dirty and dangerous fossil fuels like coal.
India's national solar program was launched in 2010 and aims to bring 20,000 megawatts of solar power to India by 2022. This project will result in more solar power that will help reduce India's reliance on coal. It will also provide domestic companies reeling from the troubles the coal sector has experienced a profitable way to diversify and reduce climate-disrupting pollution. Sounds like a program the US should be supporting--even emulating--right?
Not according to the US Trade Representative, who claims that the "buy local" portion of India's program discriminates against US solar exports. We think the claim is misguided, at best, and harmful to the future of solar deployment, at worst.