What about waste from wind and solar energy industries?
Letter | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | www.stltoday.com
Letter | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | www.stltoday.com
Regarding “Biden plan would spend $16B to clean up old mines, oil wells” (April 2): It’s good that abandoned wells and mines are being cleaned up. But it does not appear that the Biden administration is addressing another issue: waste left over from renewable energy efforts.
Wind turbines deployed in the 1990s have reached their useful life and are being decommissioned. The disposal of the blades, which are made of resins and fiberglass, are not recyclable and are ending up in landfills. Solar panels are not any better. In addition to silicon, they are made with toxic materials, including lead and cadmium which can be leached into the ground by rain if not recovered.
Also, there are no plans for disposal of the massive batteries that propel electric vehicles. In my opinion, it seems we are replacing one problem with another.
George Lacy • Collinsville
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2021/04/15/what-about-waste-from-wind-and-solar-energy-industries/