President Obama will be visiting a Gamesa wind turbine manufacturing facility in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania today.
The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) commends the President for his interest in renewable energy manufacturing and has long advocated a strong effort to develop the nation's clean energy capacity, including:
- Expand and make permanent clean energy manufacturing tax credits and industrial energy efficiency grants to allow America to lead on green job creation;
- Link federal loan guarantees for new energy infrastructure projects, including nuclear, wind, solar, other renewable energy sources, as well as the smart grid, with expanding domestic supply chains;
- Make permanent the research and development tax credit and enhance it to incentivize commercialization and production in America.
Other steps needed to help advance clean energy manufacturing include:
- Expansion of the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit (48C) for clean energy manufacturing. What's needed is for Congress to help expand access to capital so that companies are able to make efficiency improvements to their existing operations and build new plants to meet the demand for renewable energy projects. And it should provide additional funding for the 48c advanced energy manufacturing tax incentive, which supports increased manufacturing capacity of clean energy technologies in the United States.
- Enforcement of U.S. trade laws to ensure a level playing field for America's renewable energy industry. On September 9, 2010, the United Steelworkers (USW) filed a Section 301 trade petition documenting China’s multiple illegal trade practices on clean energy and other green technologies. The 5,800 page petition details the more than 80 Chinese laws, regulations and practices that violate international trade agreements and have adversely impacted U.S. clean energy manufacturing and green technology.