when Congress passed the 2007 energy bill last December, it failed to extend any stimulus for wind and solar energy production. Oil and gas kept all their credits, but those for wind and solar have been left to expire this December. The Democrats wanted the wind and solar credits to be paid for by taking away tax credits from the oil industry. President Bush said he would veto that. Neither side would back down, and Mr. Bush — showing not one iota of leadership — refused to get all the adults together in a room and work out a compromise. Meanwhile, Germany has a 20-year solar incentive program; Japan 12 years. Ours, at best, run two years.
While all the presidential candidates were railing about lost manufacturing jobs in Ohio, no one noticed that America’s premier solar company, First Solar, from Toledo, Ohio, was opening its newest factory in the former East Germany — 540 high-paying engineering jobs — because Germany has created a booming solar market and America has not.
In 1997, America was the leader in solar energy technology, with 40 percent of global solar production. Last year, we were less than 8 percent, and even most of that was manufacturing for overseas markets.
We can always count on Nonya to make excuses for Bush. Why do we even have a President, anyway???
