Derail bullet trains?

Will ‘Buy America’ derail bullet trains?

By ARIANNA SKIBELL

High-speed trains may be the latest victim of the Biden administration’s “Buy America” policy, advocates fear.

President Joe Biden wants all materials used in federal infrastructure projects to be made in the U.S., and his $369 billion climate law ties generous tax credits to domestic sourcing requirements for clean energy technologies.

That has contributed to barriers for widespread electric vehicle adoption, tensions with foreign trade partners and, now, the possible squashing of U.S. high-speed rail hopes, writes Minho Kim.

That’s because only a few places in the world build trains capable of traveling 200 mph, said Andy Kunz, president of the advocacy group U.S. High Speed Rail Association. The United States also lacks the facilities and engineering know-how to design, build and maintain the tracks, signals and safety systems needed for such high-speed trains, analysts told Minho.

That could complicate the administration’s goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by midcentury.

Biden vowed last year to fund high-speed rail as one of 37 “game changing” technologies to fight climate change. But he also strengthened his administration’s Buy America requirements five days after taking office, creating a new White House office in charge of vetting waiver requests, Minho notes. That will make it harder for rail projects to get exceptions allowing them to use foreign parts, infrastructure specialists predicted.

Transportation is the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gases. Bullet trains produce 14 to 16 times less planet-warming pollution per passenger compared with cars and airplanes.

Zooming out: Biden’s Buy America policy is intended to position the U.S. as a leader in the clean energy transition while creating thousands of domestic jobs. But the measure also poses obstacles to accomplishing those goals fast enough to blunt catastrophic climate change.

For the first time in five years, clean energy installations in the U.S. fell last year, according to a new industry report that overwhelmingly blamed delayed solar capacity on sourcing issues caused by trade restrictions, writes Lamar Johnson.

The U.S. is also trying to create a domestic supply chain for the minerals needed to build EVs, a supply now dominated by China. In 2021, the U.S. imported more than 25 percent of its lithium, 48 percent of its nickel, 76 percent of its cobalt, and all its graphite and manganese. Lessening reliance on those imports will make it harder to spur widespread adoption of EVs.