On the 52nd Earth Day, we realized a grim reality: Many of the ways we intend to solve pressing environmental challenges are failing us badly. Renewable energy is the primary case in point.
For decades, we’ve been told by green activists that renewable energy is far better than the alternatives. Fossil fuels pollute the air, they said, and nuclear power is dogged by the problem of disposing of its waste. Wind and solar, they said, are clean, green and an increasingly cheap means of supplying the nation’s energy needs. But recent media reports demonstrate that renewable energy sources are neither green nor especially cheap.
On April 5, the Department of Justice published a news release describing the sentencing of ESI Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Nextera Energy Resources, “the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun.” ESI, the department…