Ochoa et al.: (Energy) Deals in the Heartland
In Deals in the Heartland authors Christiana Ochoa (Professor, Indiana Law) , Kacey Cook (2021 Graduate, Indiana Law), and Hanna Weil (JD Candidate, Minnesota Law) explore the interplay of rural spaces, public and private law, and the transition to renewable energy.
The authors studied rural counties in Indiana and their response to wind farm development. The authors conducted interviews in Indiana counties where wind farms were constructed despite significant community resistance, those where anti-wind farm sentiments ultimately repelled wind farms that were already well into the planning stages, counties were no wind farms are currently being proposed, and everything in between. Ultimately, this article is about the deals, and failed deals, with communities at the heart of the transformation to renewable energy. The authors argue this information is of vital importance and provides a better understanding of what drives peoples’ dispositions to wind-developments, which in turn will affect the political and economic efficiency and success of America’s shift to renewable power generation.
The most pervasive feature of their interviews was local concern about the process by which wind developers engage with communities, which contributed to resistance, resentment, anger, and long-lasting community divisions. The deals struck for leases and options, county ordinances, economic development agreements, tax abatements, and more are widely perceived as secretive, nontransparent, non-inclusive, and offering insufficient opportunities for participation in the design of projects and in the decisions over whether and how they may proceed in each location. Many of the people the authors interviewed indicated they were not anti-wind farms, but rather they were mostly against the methods taken by developers and operators to develop wind farms in their communities. The authors suggest these conversations provided vital clues for the viability of future wind energy developments, stating that operators must learn how to better engage with and offer more handsome deals to the rural communities on which the US’s transition to renewable energy relies.
The authors suggest this work is distinct from prior research in a few important ways. First, it points to the centrality and vital importance of formal deals when new actors (wind prospectors) alight in tight-knit communities. Second, this work grapples with the effects of public law on decisions by communities to permit wind farms in their midst, or not. Finally, this article discusses the roles that social and economic considerations play in local decisions to deal with and form enduring relationships with wind farm operators, or not.
The authors argue that to create sustainable deals for wind farms, companies must engage communities early, transparently, respectfully, and generously, in order to credibly propose mutually beneficial relationships. They point out that the enhancing the deals made with the landowners with whom they sign the leases is not enough, but that these deals should include the neighbors and communities which will be undeniably affected.
The article provides an in-depth discussion on how this can be done by companies through efforts to recognize the burdens, improve the process, and provide fair compensation. The authors suggest that national, state, and local governments can better facilitate a sense of shared responsibility between developers and communities by using tools outlined in the article to distribute costs and benefits more fairly.
