Like everything else, the eco-mentalists love the idea of renewable energy, as long as it’s situated next to poor people, not in their pristine back yard.

A Reuters news wire of 6th January 2011 reports that the Sierra Club is using its vast fortune to take California’s energy Commission to court over its decision to allow a new solar power plant to be built:

The suit, obtained by Reuters, charges that regulators failed to fully mitigate the project’s impact on rare plant and animal species, and asks the court to void approval and permits for the plant. The lawsuit is the latest in a string of suits targeting planned solar plants, potentially setting back the development of solar energy and derailing state and federal commitments to lessening dependence on fossil fuels Reuters. Sierra Club Sues over California Solar Plant

The irony is almost perfect, isn’t it? California, the uber-green state is being sued by the Sierra Club because it granted permission for a solar power plant. What is it these guys want anyway? (Hat tip: the always-excellent Notrickszone of Germany.)

As a further report from Reuters details, the biggest obstacle to solar power in California is not global warming sceptics, Republicans or big oil money-funded conspiracies, but environmental groups who are banding together to oppose building solar power plants:

Groups ranging from the Audubon Society to the Defenders of Wildlife to the Natural Resources Defense Council are also lobbing out objections against other projects. About half of all plants in development now are having issues concerning plant and animal habitat, culture sites, or water demand, Hersey estimates. Many of those could end up in court. And just the threat of litigation seems likely to affect the scale of solar, analysts say. Developers could cut back the size of future proposed plants, and think more carefully about where they should go — and that’s the point, environmentalists counter. Reuters. Special Report: With Solar Power, it’s Green Vs Green.

California’s uber-green government must be reeling. Here they are having done exactly what all the eco-mentalists have been demanding and what thanks and praise do they get from them? None. Instead, they get torrents of criticism and law suits that will cost the state (and therefore the taxpayer) millions of dollars. If it wasn’t so tragic you’d have to laugh.

The involvement of the big environmental groups follows on the heels of Democratic do-gooder Senator Diane Feinstein who did her bit for global warming hypocrisy by putting the kybosh on renewable energy installations in her back yard of the Mojave:

AMBOY, Calif. — Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big solar plants and wind farms planned for the region. New York Times. Desert Vistas Vs Solar Power

This is, of course, perfectly normal behaviour for the eco-mentalists, who demand more renewable energy, but react with horror when that solar or wind or tidal power might be built in their back yard. Global warming hypocrite, George “four-bedrooms” Monbiot regularly demands more renewable energy, but when the Welsh government announced plans for wind farm near his large farmhouse in rural Wales he launched a stinging offensive against the idea, saying the country was “saturated” with wind farms:

Welsh energy policy has been strongly criticised by leading environmental campaigner George Monbiot. Monbiot said he was not singling out Wales, as the UK as a whole was behind in the fight against global warming. But at the Hay Festival he urged an end to windfarms on land and said a Severn Barrage would cause too much damage. BBC. Monbiot Attacks Welsh Energy Plan.

Green versus green – you really couldn’t make it up.