From IBD:

In a fully rational world where markets are left to themselves, the work would get done. The capital is available and the incentives are in place.

But our world is filled with irrational actors who foolishly — and predictably — resist the changes that are obviously needed to move forward by erecting difficult regulatory and policy hurdles. The “development of numerous coal plants,” for instance, has been canceled or deferred in recent years, NextGen says, because of environmental rules.

“The single biggest threat to system reliability,” says the NextGen report, “is opposition from well-funded environmental groups that oppose and file lawsuits against virtually every new electricity project proposed.”

Report authors say at least $300 billion will be needed to update the system. But as long as policymakers let themselves be bullied and bought off by environmental groups, it might as well be $300 trillion.

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