Summaries for: Environmental Planning
Classic wind project support dilemma: like it, won’t pay for it
North American WindPower recently reported that a poll by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's Center for Policy Analysis found that while Massachusetts electric ratepayers generally support wind energy, this support erodes rapidly if wind projects contribute to an increase in electric bills. The poll found that 55% of respondents would not pay more for electricity produced ...
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John Procario urges political tack to win public support for energy
When it comes to the politics of land use decisions, it’s comforting when energy industry leaders like John Procario of American Transmission Company really get it, writes Ben Kelahan, Saint Consulting Group's senior vice president for energy.
In the recent publication of EnergyBiz, Procario, President and CEO of American Transmission Company reviews the power of public outreach ...
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Saint’s Ben Kelahan in podcast on US offshore wind trends in 2010
Cape Wind Offshore project developer Cape Wind Associates refers to the wind farm on its Web site as "America's First Offshore Wind Farm on Nantucket Sound."Given the project's continued struggles to begin construction and the advancement of other proposed projects along the Eastern seaboard, it seems unlikely that Cape Wind will be the first U.S. ...
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Roadblocks to new mining; are we compromising national security?
By Christopher Hopkins
Senior Vice President, Aggregates and Mining, The Saint Consulting Group
Numerous arguments are made for and against mining. Public debate typically focuses on mining’s impacts on the environment, the economy, the landscape, home values and impacts on communities. Virtually ignored, however, is how the decline in mining in the United States affects national security.
When ...
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Climate change, sustainability and the real estate industry
(Ellen Sinreich, green building strategist, attorney and president of Green Edge LLC, is a guest columnist who has written about the sustainability of green building)
By Ellen Sinreich, President, Green Edge LLC
As we transition from 2009 to 2010 and the start of a new decade, there are a few things to take note of with ...
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General (of OHV) says NIMBY Wars a “must read” for land use
NIMBY Wars is a must read for all who are involved in land use advocacy, writes Don Amador (aka The General). a recreation land use consultant from Oakley, California.
"Regardless of your station in the battle for recreational access to public lands, you will benefit from the insights of this book as it succinctly explains the ...
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Support for Delaware offshore project a lesson for wind farms
By Ben Kelahan,Senior Vice President, Energy, The Saint Consulting GroupGetting major stakeholders on board early to support a wind farm proposal means identifying and mapping who they are, continually educating them about your project and mobilizing them to take some action to demonstrate their support. The passion and emotion surrounding these projects based on the issues ...
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Offshore developers need stakeholder acceptance, policy initiatives
In recent months, The Saint Report has published several posts on how wind turbine developers need to engage the public with stakeholder and policy incentives to win over local support for offshore projects.
Ben Kelahan, the senior vice president for energy for The Saint Consulting Group, repeated these points in a panel discussion early this month at the ...
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Skipping homework in public opinion and politics can sink quarry expansion plans
In a cover story in Rock Products magazine's November issue, Chris Hopkins writes that before breaking ground on a new quarry site, operators must be on the ground and behind the scenes at a local level.
Hopkins, the senior vice president for aggregates and mining for The Saint Consulting Group, writes that developers could be making ...
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Pro-active developers can counter NIMBY opposition to wind farms
By Ben Kelahan,
Senior Vice President, Energy, The Saint Consulting Group
In a recent Boing Boing blog post on Re-thinking NIMBY, freelance j0urnalist Maggie Koerth-Baker reflected on why wind power could lead to new ways of defining (and dealing with) public naysaying. As one who follows the effects of NIMBY all day, there are some real solid points Maggie makes ...
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