Rhode Island

Fossil fuel interests are working with climate denial think tanks and community groups to obstruct offshore wind projects. These community groups have made national headlines for their opposition to projects in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. They appear to be new organizations that operate organically and independently, but they often share legal support, personnel, talking points, and financial resources with major organizations that have been blocking climate policy for the last several decades. This resource shows how think tanks in the anti-offshore wind movement have received donations from six fossil fuel-interested donors between 2017 and 2021. Of these donations, $16,278,401 has gone to members of a grassroots-appearing coalition at the center of the movement. As public relations and obstruction specialists actively engage local groups to block offshore wind projects, the climate and environmental justice consequences are dire.

Voters in Southern New England widely agree that their states should work together to expand offshore wind in the region. Lower energy prices are a critical benefit to highlight. Majorities of voters in Connecticut (68%), Massachusetts (75%), and Rhode Island (67%) support their states transitioning from getting most of their heating and electricity from gas to generating heating and electricity from entirely renewable energy sources. Solar, wind, and hydropower are all overwhelmingly popular energy sources in Southern New England. Large majorities in each state favor using more solar power (78%+), hydropower (74%+), and wind power (70%+) to generate electricity. Voters in each state, including residents of coastal counties, widely back proposed tri-state collaboration to expand offshore wind in the region. Majorities of voters in Connecticut (75%), Massachusetts (77%), and Rhode Island (67%) support the three states working together to build offshore wind farms to generate electricity. Across states, there is virtually no difference in support for the proposal between residents of coastal counties (72%) and residents of non-coastal counties (74%).

Green Dash Northeast is a free tool that displays state-level data related to emissions and energy in the Northeast. This tool may be useful for staff at environmental NGOs, state and local governments, and community-based organizations seeking to better understand the status of climate and energy initiatives throughout the region. Green Dash Northeast aggregates publicly available data to present useful emissions and energy-related metrics. Metrics are displayed consistently for all Northeastern states, which allows for meaningful comparisons between states and additive regional values. Categories of data include: greenhouse gas emissions, electric energy, energy efficiency, non-electric fuels, battery storage, clean energy jobs, energy burdens and rates.