Patterson manages energy leases on state lands and waters for the State of Texas. In way more than just Big Talk, he views Texas as the real Big Kahuna of Wind Power and tells ‘why’ for a number of really Big Reasons:

• Unlike the Cape Wind hoo-hah in Massachusetts, Texans do not say they favor green power, and then jump up and down yelling NIMBY when it comes. Texans are realists; they know we are going to run out of oil and natural gas.
• Texas has a lot of open space to build wind power. And, unlike California, Texas is not overly regulated.
• Texas has an energy history in exploration, production, leases, and mineral estate laws; apply this experience to wind power development and Texas is way ahead of many other places in the US.

Like most things in Texas, the potential for offshore wind production in the state really is HUGE.

• The Texas Gulf Coast is huge, over 21,000 square miles
• The offshore jurisdiction of the state is BIG compared to most other coastal states. They have offshore jurisdiction of 3 nautical miles. The Texas jurisdiction is 9 nautical miles – 10.3 statute miles.
• Wind projects in the Gulf off Texas are governed by the state and not the federal government; right of way issues go directly through the state.
• Texas has a 60-year experience building offshore oil and gas rigs just ripe and ready for building offshore wind platforms.
• Offshore wind generators will be only 10 miles from the nearest transmission grid; this is not the same for many onshore wind locations.

The July issue Fast Company interview with humorous Patterson will make you laugh out loud.

As this Texas wind power cheerleader claimed to interviewer Kermit Pattison, “I got a little skirt, a little sweater that says W.” — reading this interview you can almost believe that he does.

Click here to read the full interview with Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson in Fast Company on line.

The new Lyme zoning law prevents any wind turbines (commercial and residential) within 4,500 feet of the Lake Ontario waterfront and the villages of Three Mile Bay and Chaumont. In response, Voters for Wind a local wind advocacy group filed a State Supreme Court lawsuit against the Town of Lyme. The lawsuit wants to have the restrictive zoning law nullified stating that the super-majority vote required was not achieved and the zoning ordinance as written is arbitrary and capricious.

Sounds like your typical battle – wind farmers fighting the NIMBY pack – but not in this case. The heart of the issue here is a real concern that this law is too restrictive. That it essentially eliminates the possibility of wind development of any kind, at any time, in the Town of Lyme on a purely political basis.

“I feel they have their own agenda. They have been very anti wind from the beginning,” said Voters for Wind vice president Dawn Munk.

With all the recent hoopla in the media pointing to huge wind power projects being planned or developed all over the country now, it is important to remember that there are MANY battles over wind power still taking place.

If you are a David battling Goliath. if you are pushing a wind project with out the benefit of power, money or prestige. If your wind power project is also under fire, check out the Wind Power Community Organizing handbook and the rest of this website.

There are strategies and tactics that can help you move your project forward. Click here and then use the arrows on the Lulu toolbar to see the Table of Contents, sample pages of copy and the index of the Wind Power Handbook.

And, Click here for more on the Lyme case study in progress.

The Cape Wind project plans to place 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound, south of Cape Cod. An untiring handful of grassroots organizers have waged a mighty battle with Cape Cod property owners, heiresses, billionaires, well-funded and well-organized opposition lobbying, and the likes of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Senator Edward M. Kennedy. But, David may yet defeat these Goliaths. In a few months The Cape Wind project expects to get authorization to begin construction.

The incredible case history of the early days of this project is documented in the book Cape Wind by Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb. It is a classic case study of how even the most powerful resistance can be overcome with dogged research (doing your homework!), developing a wide network of supporters and allies, and frankly (when dealing with a whole gaggle of the rich and VERY powerful) – a whole lot of money.

There is much to be learned from the Cape Wind project. It is important to note here that the size of this project and the wealth of the resistors made this battle an expensive one. But aside from the costs unique to this particular project, the strategies and tactics used by these grassroots activists have some major lessons for all wind activists and advocates.

Click here for an update on the Cape Wind project and on the trends in US off-shore wind power projects in general.

For information on the evolution of what started out as a grassroots campaign and is now a major agenda, visit the Clean Power Now website.

The role for wind project organizers is not to put on boxing gloves to beat resistance down but to change resistors to supporters – or at least neutral wait-and-see bystanders.

Your most vocal resistors give you key insights into how you might change their minds.

By asking questions about the people against your project, you will learn a great deal that can help you formulate strategies to counter their resistance. Who, What , Where and How can help you understand Why. Once you understand why people are against your project you have a context to chip away at their resistence.   

Who wears the NIMBY, NOMBP or ABH t-shirts (real or virtual)? What’s their demographic profile?

• How old are they?
• Are they generally males or females?
• What’s their education, income and socioeconomic level?
• Are they married, divorced, single?
• Are they home owners or renters?

Where do they have influence?

• Where do they live?
• Where do they work?
• Are they group leaders or group members?
• Are they vocal opinion leaders?
• Are they high profile stakeholders or irate local individuals?

How do they influence others?

• Are they organizing protest groups?
• Are they writing letters to the editors of newspapers?
• Are they speaking out against the wind project? Where?
• Are they pressuring decision makers? Who? How?

What are their issues?

• Aesthetics?
• Bird migration?
• Noise?
• Turbine height?
• Radar Interference?
• Other?

To change resistors to supporters, wind project activists need to first accept that all perspectives have validity. Resistors have the same rights to their opinions as do supporters. Your challenge as a wind project supporter is to change resistance to support. How do you do that?

Study your adversaries carefully. Research their issues fully, use the media to provide honest/candid information about those issues, and talk directly with individual resistors.