Public Participation in the World of Renewable Energies

There are many strengths and weaknesses of every actor involved in solving a part of the problem that is climate change. Within the actors and regulations that have been involved with my group’s blogs, there are some obvious and not so obvious flaws or benefits which might hinder the solutions to our problem.

One of the main issues is public participation; or rather the lack there of.

With the regulations provided, the Lake Michigan Offshore Wind Energy Act and the Clean Power Plan, public participation is seemingly non-existent. Created by the Illinois State and President of the United States of America, it doesn’t seem that any public participation was even offered. There are bound to be people who would complain of offshore wind farms, or that the CCP for industries was not as strict as it could be. This may be a good thing, as these regulations are encouraging for the renewable energies market and better for the environment.

It was mentioned in class today that the public won’t be too upset if given fair notice or the opportunity to voice their opinions; but if no notice or warning is given, then certain individuals will rage.

As far as our actors go, I think the most limiting (or attempted to limit) solutions towards the problem is WE Energies. With wanting to receive energy made from home-owned energy collection and fighting the “threat posed by alternative decentralized energy industries”, it seems quite obvious that money is their highest priority, and not the environment. This sets up the public participation as absent and is represented by a form of manipulation.

On a better note, the other actors such as the Natural Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Grow Solar and the Great Plains Institute (GPI) are great examples of informing and consulting forms of participation. When the GPI and NREL collaborate with businesses (large and small), local communities and NGOs are invited and encouraged to participate to help develop solutions for whatever the unanimous goal is.

One thing that J.P. Evans brings to light in his final chapter of Environmental Governance is that with public participation there are some downfalls which become an issue for this particular topic, as opposed to others.

Asymmetry - He mentions that stakeholders are all suggested to all have equal attention with like-minded goals however, depending on the project size, location and content, not everyone will be content with how the solution is developed.

This particular drawback can be seen with GPI. While collaborating with many different institutions and developing policies and regulations, it is very unlikely that everyone will be happy in the end.

Expert Bias – Many institutions are what J.P. Evans says are, “stuck in the mindset that only experts can answer policy questions.” He backs this up by providing the concept of Decide-Announce-Defend (DAD).

This one can be seen with Grow Solar. Within city specific projects, the consulting and planning parts may be constructed by Urban Planners and members of the city; but this does not mean they are aware of all that occurs with everything happening within the city. Book-smarts is one thing, but street-smarts are more important in some areas. As a keystone species is vital to a particular ecosystem, affecting some communities or areas could affect more than anticipated.

Lack of Resources – J.P. Evens’ last drawback to public participation is the lack of resources; this isn’t solely about monetary issues, but time spent, and responsibility are other things as well. Once a project is complete, and it isn’t up to expectations or standards, is it the communities’ or the organizations’ responsibility to solve the issue?

This flaw could very well happen with the Lake Michigan offshore wind parks. If the energy generated doesn’t meet the minimal requirements based on poor research or quality of machinery…is it Chicago, or the energy company to look up to?

The flaws that J.P. Evans points out in the final chapter of his book, I feel, are valid to some extent. Every project will have some form of public participation whether it is placation, power delegation or manipulation. And with anything has public participation in some way or another have one of these three flaws. It’s hard to say which is most prominent, but they all affect the world of renewable energies.