Clean energy plants are being banned faster than they're being built
Over the weekend, USA Today published an in-depth account of the ways in which some communities are trying to obstruct — or in some cases outlaw — clean energy development.
At least 15% of counties in the U.S. have effectively halted new utility-scale wind, solar, or both, USA TODAY found. These limits come through outright bans, moratoriums, construction impediments and other conditions that make green energy difficult to build.
The impediments come as a gigantic effort to build green energy also is underway. U.S. energy from commercial wind and solar is expected to hit 19% by 2025, and those sources are expected to surpass the amount of electricity made from coal this year.
…
In the past decade, about 180 counties got their first commercial wind-power projects. But in the same period, more than twice as many blocked wind development. And while solar power has found more broad acceptance, 2023 was the first year to see almost as many individual counties block new solar projects as the ones adding their first projects.
The result: Some of the areas with the nation's best sources of wind and solar power have now been boxed out.