Monday is shaping up to be a be a bad day to own renewable energy stocks. Shares of hydroelectric, wind, and solar power plant operator Brookfield Renewable Energy (NYSE: BEPC) fell 4.1% through 11:20 a.m. ET, while smaller hydrogen company Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) and solar power provider  (NASDAQ: SPWR) sank 6.3% and 8.7%, respectively.

To find out why, let's open up the pages of USA Today's Sunday edition, which reported that "U.S. counties are blocking the future of renewable energy."

This story starts out happy, with USA Today reminding readers that America is a potential renewable energy powerhouse (so to speak). Out of the 2.9 million square miles that comprise American territory, if we were to cover just 10,424 of those square miles -- about one-third of 1% of America's landmass -- with solar panels and wind turbines, this would generate enough clean energy to cover 100% of our electricity needs. And the Biden administration has proposed doing just that, setting a goal of generating 100% of America's energy from non-fossil fuel renewable energy sources by 2035 -- barely a decade away.

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Source Fool.com