Community Benefits and Impacts from Energy Development:
The Case of Offshore Wind 

Energy development projects can create both opportunities and challenges for host communities. New infrastructure may bring jobs, investment, and funding for local priorities while also raising concerns related to environmental change, existing industries, cultural resources, and local participation in decision making. 

This project examines how communities, developers, policymakers, and supporting organizations address questions of local impacts and community benefits associated with large-scale energy development. Offshore wind development serves as a case study for understanding how benefit arrangements emerge, how negotiations unfold, and how communities navigate complex energy infrastructure siting processes across U.S. coastal regions. 

 

Emerging Insights

Research across study locations highlights several recurring themes shaping how communities experience large-scale energy development:

  • TBD

Full findings and supporting analysis are available in project reports and research publications below

Research Locations

  • Brookings, Oregon

  • Coos Bay, Oregon

  • Eureka, California

  • Searsport, Maine

  • Yarmouth, Maine

  • Westport/Grayland Washington

Research activities included interviews, surveys, document analysis, and engagement with community members, local leaders, developers, nonprofit organizations, and policy makers. 

 

Presentations and Events

  • Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) Annual Conference 

  • International Association for Society and Natural Resources (IASNR) Conference 

  • Western Political Science Association (WPSA) Annual Meeting 

  • West Coast Ocean Alliance meeting 

  • Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) Annual & Mid-year Conventions, and Energy Sovereignty Summit 

  • Northwest Offshore Wind Conference (NOW)

  • Pacific Offshore Wind Collaboration (POWC) Webinar

  • North American Wind Energy Academy Conference (NAWEA) (again get list from reports)

  • Hatfield Marine Science Center Seminar

  • Community and stakeholder engagement events across study locations 

 

EnGAGEMENT AND pROJECT aCTIVITIES

Throughout the project, researchers engaged with coastal communities, nonprofit organizations, industry representatives, and public agencies through interviews, workshops, and public discussions focused on community experiences with offshore wind development. 

 

Research Team

PRINCIPAL & Co INVESTIGATORS:

 
 
 
 
 

research team members

Greyson Adams

Sayan Bhattacharjee

Julie Bingham

Jamie Doyle

Elijah Duncan-Gilmour

Tanya Eison

Tanner Etherton

Emily Griffith

Lauren Hart

Taufiq Hossain

Lauren Kolojejchick-Kotch

Emma Korein

Brenda Langley

Casey MacLean

Ruben Martinez

Emily Miller

Karina Nielson

Brandii O’Regan

Lorren Ruscetta

Amber Schultz

Greg Stelmach

Sara Swett

 
 

Partner Institutions

 
 

PROJECT SUPPORT

Research activities have been supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Energy Technologies Office, the National Wildlife Federation and the U. S. Energy Foundation.