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This paper contextualizes wind turbine opposition in Northern New England, a politically progressive and ecologically conscious region. Put simply, it explains why the public may not have access to the full story about Northern New England's wind opposition. It details how wind opponents were labeled NIMBYs in the region's media coverage and catalogs the perspectives and messages that were lost in the process, drawing from an expanding literature on the benefits of NIMBYism. It explores how wind projects agitate animosity around not just backyard development, but the increasing burden of regional energy production born by rural communities and their limited capacity to intervene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the public narrative surrounding two technology-based rural businesses funded in part by immigrant investors through the controversial EB5 Visa program. It focuses on the role of technology in rural development, documenting a techno-science shift in rural development discourse. Engaging with the literatures of rural development and science and technology studies (STS), the paper frames this shift as a mechanism of power exercised by private capital. Specifically, we analyze how the discourse around our two cases, as observed in news and social media, attributes financial and technological expertise to the private sector while facilitating scapegoating of government and the state. We outline specific rural vulnerabilities in vetting technology-based developments and conclude that sociologists must be mindful of our own contributions to discourse that may exacerbate those vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constitutes a preliminary and descriptive analysis of controversial renewable energy politics in Northern New England. It contextualizes the region's politics around wind turbine installations by assessing them along side the region's social demographic profile, most notably its stratification by social class, age and migration status. Informed by media accounts, interviews, and observation of public forums, it is intended to lay the groundwork for more analytic and theorydriven explorations of contested energy policy to follow in subsequent papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]