Notes on a presentation to the Environmental Business Council –

Recently, on a hot Friday in July, I gave a presentation to the Rhode Island Chapter of the Environmental Business Council of New England. For a hot Friday in July, there was a surprisingly good turnout, about 35 in all. Energy project developers, clean-tech focused VC and legal types – in short, those who have a vested  interest in moving the ball forward on energy projects in the state…

“Developments in Rhode Island Energy Programs” covered the waterfront, from regulatory and zoning issues to building community acceptance for energy developments. At the invitation of Chris Rein, our good friend at the ESS Group, I dove into the latter topic.

Typically – and this is the case with our work on the Smart Grid, too – talk of promoting energy projects lags far behind talk of everything else in energy projects. On one level, this is completely understandable. After all, you must ensure your project is viable – dotting numerous i’s and crossing a boatload of t’s along the way – before can say much about it.

On the other hand, failure to engage with the community on its terms and at the earliest possible opportunity is as risky to your project as it gets. An all-too-prevailing mindset is a switch on “Build It, and They Will Come.” Either that, or it’s “Build It, and They Will Acquiesce…or Knuckle Under.”

Neither approach works.

My pitch to EBC was simply this: Reasons that communities line up against energy projects have as much to do with human nature as they do with your project. It’s a tale as old as time – fear of the unknown. The sooner you inform and educate via an integrated outreach effort and come forth with the facts about your project with complete transparency, the sooner you make friends rather than enemies. Conversely, the longer you procrastinate, the greater the chance of turning potential supporters into opponents of your project.

And as with any introduction, making an appropriate first impression is everything – and these days, that means branding.

Bradwood Landing is a good case in point. A proposed multi-million-dollar LNG-receiving plant on Oregon’s Columbia River, the project had opposition lining up well before we got there. We quickly got to work putting a face on the project – creating a project identity, and developing a set of outreach tools including, project website , fact sheets, PPT presentations, etc.  Followed by community engagement at the grassroots level, a fact-based print campaign and a testimonial-based radio campaign, we continued to build project support. Within 12 months, we grew Bradwood’s base of supporters from 100 to 2500 – converting many of its early opponents into supporters.

You can read the entire case study here.

In a follow-on panel discussion at the EBC, a developer commented, “That’s great but, unlike Bradwood landing, my project’s not that big.”

It doesn’t matter, I told him. The good news is that an outreach effort and the “articles of introduction” are entirely scalable. Of course, they’re also non-negotiable. These days, permitting and siting your project is tougher than ever. In this environment, the benefits of branding, pro-active community outreach and transparent messaging cannot possibly be overstated.

Simply stated, promoting the vision and benefits of an energy infrastructure project – and educating in a fact-based and responsible manner – will contribute significantly to the success of any energy project.