1. Newport County, Rhode Island – I’ve learned that climate activists in Rhode Island are now using local protests to oppose NIMBYs who are challenging renewables projects.
- On Sept. 19, members of Climate Action Rhode Island – a local offshoot of 350.org – will be on the ground disrupting the entrance to a lavish dinner hosted by the Preservation Society of Newport County, a wealthy architectural conservation group that sued federal regulators over their approval of Eversource’s Revolution offshore wind project.
- As that lawsuit works its way through the courts, activists are using local opposition to draw public attention to the Preservation Society and portray it as an obstacle to progress on decarbonization with op-eds, meetings, and now more protests.
- Nick Horton of Climate Action Rhode Island told me that this public awareness campaign may also target the TV network HBO, as its show “The Gilded Age” has been filmed at the Preservation Society’s historic mansions.
- “I think broadly speaking the environmental movement really needs to start organizing around the threat of NIMBYism, and needs to start identifying these NIMBY organizations as prime bad actors in the pushback against the renewable energy transition,” Horton said.