Washington

DOZENS of solar industry executives, government officials and foreign diplomats gathered on Tuesday to urge federal trade commissioners to reject a petition from two troubled domestic solar equipment manufacturers to impose steep tariffs and minimum price guarantees on similar imports. At risk, they argued, is the future of the solar industry itself.

"They seek a public remedy for their own private failings," said Matthew R Nicely, a lawyer representing the main solar trade group, the Solar Energy Industries Association, before the US International Trade Commission. "If successful, they will undermine the hard work and innovation that is making solar a viable alternative to conventional energy sources." But Matthew J McConkey, a lawyer for Suniva, the Georgia-based manufacturer that originally brought the petition, argued that the case was about more than two companies that managed to outlast the many manufacturers squeezed out of business by foreign competition.