The Pentagon has denied recent concerns that Chinese-made materials might be used in a project to install solar panels on Pentagon roofs and other facilities.
The Pentagon’s backlash came after Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin wrote Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week expressing concern about the use of Chinese-made materials in a $104 million taxpayer-funded plan to add solar panels to the Pentagon and other facilities, warning that the plan “will have significant implications for the national security of the United States.”
“The Department of Defense has no intention of installing Chinese-made solar panels at the Pentagon,” a Pentagon spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “The Department of Defense adheres to the requirements of the Buy American Act in its clean energy, energy efficiency, and clean energy procurement decisions.”
Youngkin slams Pentagon plan to give China millions in rooftop solar panels
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Youngkin’s letter came in response to a January Defense Department announcement about the planned project, which the department said was part of the Biden administration’s efforts to promote clean energy and “reposition the federal government as a leader in sustainability.”
The panels were to be installed at the Pentagon and at 30 other Pentagon locations, including military installations such as the U.S. Army Garrison in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Youngkin expressed concern about the plan, noting that because “companies heavily influenced or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party dominate the global solar supply chain,” the U.S. needs to “require military procurement of solar panels to come from verified domestic manufacturers with trusted supply chains.”
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
Pentagon installs rooftop solar panels as part of Biden’s clean energy push
But the Pentagon made clear in its response that it follows the Buy American Act, telling Fox News Digital that it has “a rigorous and extensive oversight process to ensure compliance with the laws, domestic preferences, and the laws of our trade agreement partners, implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation and, in the case of the DoD, the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement.”
“Looking to the future, the Department of Defense is leveraging its significant buying power to ensure that America’s carbon-free energy industry and related allied commercial supply chains can rapidly grow to provide resilient and diversified clean energy generation to support the warfighter,” a Pentagon spokesman said.
The Pentagon as seen from Air Force One flying over Washington on March 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
A spokesman for Governor Youngkin’s office welcomed the news, saying, “The Governor is pleased that Secretary Austin will follow the Governor’s recommendation to adopt a ‘Made in the USA’ requirement for procurement of Chinese-made solar panels.”
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“It is essential to recognize China’s objectives for global dominance at the expense of the United States, and it is critical that the United States decouples its renewable energy sector from China and achieves energy independence to protect our national security,” the spokesman said.
