Wednesday, May 29, 2013

COMMUNITY ACCEPTANCE OF WIND IN LITTLE APPALACHIA

  
COMMUNITY ACCEPTANCE OF WIND WEBINAR

  Not long ago a friend sent me a link to a webinar

The featured speaker on this webinar was Marion Trieste, Trieste Associates
wind facilitator and wind opposition buster.

Trieste works for top tier industrial wind companies such as BP and typically she is brought in to industrial wind targeted communities where the proposed development has become controversial. Trieste has a formula for making a project work for the developer. “Grassroots organization”




Trieste tells developers,


“We really have to invest in the public”. “You’re only going to increase your odds of success if you're investing in our host communities.”

In 2008 British Petroleum hired Trieste to do "outreach work” and this is when and why she established Voters for Wind (VFW).


Trieste talks about her favorite group Voters for Wind, saying,


“They actually established themselves two years ago.
 “And I worked with them with a BP wind power project here.” “BP was - is the developer that I'm - I've been working with here.”
“It’s all - it's all about the messenger, right.”
 These groups work well because the developer may be seen as having other goals in mind such as profit
Trieste Creates a pro - wind coalition or network by holding small private gatherings with landowners that are not open to the public, arming landowners with generic information about the development process, crafted to debunk the myths about Property values. Birds, Sound etc.
At these gatherings they formulate their mission to go out and educate people and to get them to show their support for the proposed wind development.

They promote the notion that they have altruistic motives in their desire to push a
developers project and not because they are gaining financially from it;

“It just warms my heart to watch what's - what evolves with connecting people to each other in a community.”

Trieste tells the developers, to distance themselves, so they don’t taint the process,
people may think they are being used by the wind developers.

“At GEOS we call ourselves like a little buffer between the wind farm developer who's our client and those on the ground who are basically those most impacted in the local communities.”
“So we can do a lot more good out there if we are seen as independent and are and acting as independent individual grassroots organizations.”

Additionally Trieste stressed the importance of the economics of wind. Money is a method used to promote the project as well. “Money talks” this is where the host benefit packages come into play as she characterized our area as little Appalachia.


Trieste used the webinar as an opportunity to engage in exploitation of community division describing the typical industrial wind opponents, as
wealthy short term summer residents, retired Wall Street attorney types from
New Jersey and New York City that do not care about the community, jobs or taxes.

“They just care about their viewshed”

In contrast to the characterization of the Anti- wind Trieste describes the pro wind, as the downtrodden silent majority, farmers struggling to survive .People who are invested in the community and have been invested in the land for generations and now their grandkids are never going to be able to live here because there’s nothing for them .


“They get it.”
Additionally, Trieste would like to educate our children about industrial wind as well.

“I can't emphasize enough that we need to be more and more in our schools.to get young people involved, Let's go and let's shame the older generation into doing this.”

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have had the pleasure of attending a Marion Trieste presentation. Some of the things she was claiming about Cape Vincent were certainly not what I have witnessed and she is the classic outsider. Just the same, I believe the CFG would have no problem letting her vote here.

Anonymous said...

After reading this from Trieste's webinar, "...typical industrial wind opponents, as wealthy short term summer residents, retired Wall Street attorney types from New Jersey and New York City that do not care about the community, jobs or taxes," I can only conclude Trieste Associates are trained, paid hatemongers. Hatemongers paid by Bob Dudley and BP.


Anonymous said...

Is this really from Trieste's webinar, "They (groups like VFW) promote the notion that they have altruistic motives in their desire to push a developers project and not because they are gaining financially from it." This amounts to an admission that Trieste and VFW are a contrived farce - they are promoting a notion, not promoting the truth. The truth is screw the project, screw the seasonals, screw the NYC attorneys, screw the New Jersey tourists, screw their Cape neighbors, screw the Town government, and screw them all. I WANT MY MONEY, I WANT MY MONEY - DAMMIT! Trieste, Dudley and BP should all go to jail.

Anonymous said...

YUP!

Anonymous said...


First let me say that Mr. Fixit should go to Marion and tell her it is her responsibility to heal the community.

Remember What Rienbeck said when he lost...This sucks and all they care about are their cottages on the river...


Anonymous said...

Laying out Marion Trieste 's webinar again gets my juices flowing in the morning better than a dozen cups of coffee. She did more damage to Dudley and BP's cause with her big mouth than Hoen did with his big mouth saying a property value guarantee was a good thing. How can such supposedly smart people like Trieste and Hoen be so stupid?

Anonymous said...

Every time I read Marion's webinar, a little vomit rises into my throat.

Anonymous said...

'supposedly smart people like Trieste and Hoen be so stupid?"
I have talked with Marion on many occasions. Once she puts you into her anti wind box she then treats you like an ignorant child. Did you ever notice when she engages with the community she is always sure she has her green shirt body guards close by and well trained to prevent any significant one on one? Can you imagine what she is like when she is heating up the little appalachians?

Anonymous said...

There is a part in there where she says that she brings them the information. Of course, she passes on the Bp information using green shirt stooges who get it in their hands about 3 minutes before a town meeting. Gary King, for example, completely dismissed the results of a town economic study with a claim that "we did a study on our own" and totally disagree with a full committee of local experts. Remember what Karen Stumpf said about Michael McCann who will testify as one of the towns home impact experts? "lies, lies, lies". What will Marion's role be if Bp and their experts like Marion and Voters for Wind get sued for bad information like Iberdrola did in Herkimer county?

Anonymous said...

Do voters for wind still have their website?

It had all the pictures of former friends and family who are tying to give Cape Vincent to BP.

Anonymous said...

Children in schools used to be protected by blatant commercialism. Especially when corporate driven. The most disgusting part about Voters for Wind is there using the school to serve their own financial interests.

Anonymous said...

I think you mean protected from.

Either way children should not be pawns for a corporate scheme. This suggestion by Trieste is despicable. It is ok to introduce the science later when they have enough scientific reasoning to do at least a simple system analysis of a WEC. But to make them cute and fun and a dream of big money is despicable.

Anonymous said...

Trieste has met often in secret meetings with pro wind. How about her meeting with anti-wind to give us equal opportunity and without her little appalachia stooges.