RE developers facing greater NIMBY resistance

ACCORDING to a new study by the Columbia University Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, local regulations restricting or prohibiting the development of solar or wind renewable energy (RE) projects are increasing at an alarming rate and "represents a potentially significant impediment to achievement of climate goals." That there is resistance to RE developments is not surprising; any sort of proposed project almost anywhere in the US, no matter how benign, always attracts at least a few NIMBY (not in my backyard) dissenters. This is, after all, the Land of Karens. What is alarming about the results, however, is how quickly that dissent is being formalized in local and state laws.

The Sabin Center logged 395 restrictions "severe enough to block projects" in 41 of the 50 US states dating back to 1995; however, 55 of those have been enacted in just the past year or since the last version of the report published in May 2023. The report notes that Alaska is the only state where there are no significant restrictions on RE development at either the local or state level and that only Alaska, Utah and Tennessee currently have no contested RE projects. On the other end of the spectrum, Virginia, Michigan, New York and Ohio have more than 18 apiece.