COMMUNITY ACCEPTANCE OF WIND WEBINAR
July 2, 2009
A few months ago friend sent me a link to a webinar
The featured speaker on this webinar was Marion Trieste,Trieste Associates
wind facilitator and wind opposition buster.
Trieste works for top tier industrial wind companies such as BP and typically she is brought in to industrial wind targeted communities where the proposed development has become controversial. Trieste has a formula for making a project work for the developer. “Grassroots organization”
Trieste tells developers,
“we really have to invest in the public”. “you’re only going to increase your odds of success if you're investing in our host communities.”
In 2008 British Petroleum hired Trieste to do "outreach work” and this is when and why she established Voters For Wind (VFW).
Trieste talks about her favorite group Voters for Wind, saying,
“they actually established themselves two years ago.
“And I worked with them with a BP wind power project here.” “BP was - is the developer that I'm - I've been working with here.”
“it’s all - it's all about the messenger, right.”These groups work well because the developer may be seen as having other goals in mind such as profit
Trieste Creates a pro - wind coalition or network by holding small private gatherings with landowners, that are not open to the public , arming landowners with generic information about the development process ,crafted to debunk the myths about Property values. Birds, Sound etc.
At these gatherings they formulate their mission to go out and educate
people and to get them to show their support for the proposed wind development.
They promote the notion that they have altruistic motives in their desire to push a
developers project and not because they are gaining financially from it;
“it just warms my heart to watch what's - what evolves with connecting people to each other in a community.”
Trieste tells the developers, to distance themselves, so they don’t taint the process,
people may think they are being used by the wind developers.
“At GEOS we call ourselves like a little buffer between the wind farm developer who's our client and those on the ground who are basically those most impacted in the local communities.”
“So we can do a lot more good out there if we are seen as independent and are and acting as independent individual grassroots organizations.”
Additionally Trieste stressed the importance of the economics of wind. Money is a method used to promote the project as well. “Money talks” this is where the host benefit packages come into play as she characterized our area as little Appalachia.
Trieste used the webinar as an opportunity to engage in exploitation of community division describing the typical industrial wind opponents, as
wealthy short term summer residents, retired Wall Street attorney types from
New Jersey and New York City that do not care about the community, jobs or
taxes.
“they just care about their viewshed”
In contrast to the characterization of the Anti- wind Trieste describes the pro wind, as the downtrodden silent majority, farmers struggling to survive .People who are invested in the community and have been invested in the land for generations and now their grandkids are never going to be able to live here because there’s nothing for them .
“they get it.”Additionally, Trieste would like to educate our children about industrial wind as well.
“I can't emphasize enough that we need to be more and more in our schools.to get young people involved, Let's go and let's shame the older generation into doing this.”
Link here to the US DEPARTMENT of ENERGY website and Trieste's ~ transcript & webcast
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