How the government is hurting environmentalism

The biggest enemy of immediate environmental action in the United States is, surprisingly, our government itself.

Federal renewable energy permits can often take years to be approved — and that’s on top of any (inevitable) local, state, or regional challenges.

Offshore wind, of which the US has a mere 42 megawatts of installed capacity, is a perfect example.

Compare this to China, where they installed 17 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity last year alone.

While countries like China (and European nations) have quickly built offshore wind facilities, the US government has spent over 10 years just to approve the permits for such efforts.

Solar and land-based wind projects have encountered similar challenges due to their interconnectivity with our nation’s complicated multi-state electric grid.