Organized crime cripples renewable-energy efforts in Italy

Washington Post : A front-page article reports on “the latest wave of sting operations revealing years of deep infiltration into the renewable energy sector by Italy’s rapidly modernizing crime families.” Those operations raise “fresh questions about the use of government subsidies to fuel a shift toward cleaner energies.” Critics are “claiming huge state incentives created excessive profits for companies and a market bubble ripe for fraud.” The Post notes that the discoveries “follow so-called âeco-corruption’ cases in Spain, where a number of companies stand accused of illegally tapping state aid.” Much of the problem centers in Sicily, which not only has “infamous crime families” but plentiful sunshine and wind. Authorities have seized about one-third of Sicily’s 30 wind farms plus several solar power plants, have frozen more than $2 billion in assets, and have made a dozen arrests. The story probably owes its front-page placement to what it never mentions: its obvious potential as a cautionary tale for political exploitation in the US, where some critics protest government support of renewable-energy business ventures, and where allegations of fraud followed the failure of the government-backed renewable-energy venture Solyndra.