The 1962 Bob Dylan lyrics ‘The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind’ was somewhat prophetic to the surge of renewable energy, led by wind, as the answer to eliminate fossil fuels and non-renewable sources on our planet. Most people support renewable energy, and the battle tends to be how quickly to move off fossil fuels, where costs remain stable and jobs are not lost at staggering rates.
However, there has been another movement throughout the world – public and political opposition to wind farms with the express desire to either slow or stop the projects entirely.
Who is behind this opposition? That often depends on each project. Large fossil fuel companies have often been accused of backing anti-wind groups, websites and blogs. Some opposition is political – officials, who often have a deciding hand in the projects, oppose it for a myriad of reasons. And sometimes it is good old-fashioned opposition from nearby residents, who refuse to accept the fact that a four-hundred-foot turbine should be in their view shed (or anyone’s for that matter).
One such wind opposition website (no need to provide advertisement to them by name) prides itself on stopping ‘industrial wind’ – a euphemism for ‘more than 2 turbines’ I gather.
Here are just a few headlines from this anti-wind site that posted in a 24-hour period: ‘wind turbines causing blowback from neighbors’; ‘offshore wind turbines hit rough water in New England’; ‘Sedgewick County will have a moratorium on wind farm applications; and ‘wind turbines fall off truck causing delays for morning commuters’. Not bad for one day, and that is just a sampling.
Having been in the business for 24 years of building public support for projects of all types, I can tell you this: Wind farm projects can and should be approved on the merits, nevertheless having a coordinated public outreach effort is not just a choice anymore, it is a necessity.
Too often wind farm companies wait until opposition has arisen and taken hold before launching into a public relations effort to try and salvage projects. The cost benefit of a public affairs campaign to support wind farm projects clearly is in favor of the wind farm project company or developer. The tactics are not complicated; yet the timing is often critical. Below I have categorized tactics that can make the difference between a wind farm project being approved in a timely manner, or being delayed or even denied by planning agencies. Let’s explore these tactics.
