Because using cheap, clean energy would be woke or something, and the sun cannot bribe government officials.

Part of the problem is that propaganda has convinced them that solar and wind are just pipe dreams and scams which are too weak and expensive to be useful. That it's just part of an agenda being pushed by the radical leftist hippy green weenies who want your taxes to subsidize their useless toys. That renewables are all about virtue signalling and aren't practical because the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow, etc.

It's not just the imbeciles either. I've known otherwise intelligent people who simply never bothered to investigate the claims they heard. I have these conversations with my dad on occasion because he knows I'm interested in EVs and solar and he'll mention the bullshit articles he reads and I have to point out the flaws in those articles. The last time we talked he questioned if a solar roof really works in the northern parts of the country and he had trouble accepting it until I pointed out that all the plants outside are solar powered and they do just fine.

You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.

The libs don't like coal → they have to own the libs → they like coal.