For Clean Energy, Buy American or Buy It Quick and Cheap?

President Biden says slowing climate change will create jobs. Tension between unions and environmentalists shows it’s not so simple.

In January, Patricia Fahy, a New York State legislator, was celebrating a new development project for the Port of Albany: the country’s first assembly plant dedicated to building offshore wind towers. “I was doing cartwheels,” said Ms. Fahy, who represents the area. Before long, however, she was caught in a political bind. A powerful union informed her that most of the equipment for New York’s big investment in offshore windmills would not be built by American workers but would come from abroad. Yet when Ms. Fahy proposed legislation to press developers to use locally made parts, she met opposition from environmentalists and wind industry officials. “They were like, ‘Oh, God, don’t cause us any problems,’” she recalled.