Regardless of political affiliation, Texans on average hold positive views about wind energy developments, welcoming turbines' local benefits despite state and national leaders' criticisms and efforts to disincentivize such projects, Cornell-led research finds.
The analysis also found that incumbent state lawmakers in districts where wind turbines were built over nearly a decade - while Texas led the nation in wind energy production - did not suffer electoral losses that might reflect "not-in-my-backyard" (NIMBY) sentiments seen in other parts of the country.
The findings suggest opportunities for continued growth in wind and other renewable energy infrastructure despite backlash among conservative political elites who favor fossil fuels, the researchers said.
"It's not that rural Texans are eager to stop climate change, but local communities are genuinely getting economic benefits from these wind turbines, and people like that," said Talbot Andrews, assistant professor in the Department of Government in the College of Arts and Sciences. "Voters aren't just blindly following partisan state or national narratives. What's happening on the ground also matters."
Andrews is the first author of "The Winds of Change? Attitudes Toward Wind Projects and Their Electoral Implications in Texas," published March 20 in Energy Policy. Co-authors are Adam Gallaher, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; and three scholars from the University of Connecticut, which funded the research: Carol Atkinson-Palombo, professor in the Department of Geography, Sustainability, Community and Urban Studies; and Oksan Bayulgen and Lyle Scruggs, professors in the Department of Political Science.
After ice storms crippled Texas' electricity grid in February 2021, causing days of rolling blackouts, Gov. Greg Abbott and some national pundits blamed frozen wind turbines and other renewables, though the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) relied more on other sources. Lawmakers there and in other states proposed bills seeking to undermine federal policies that incentivized deployment of renewables, and communities have adopted more than 3,000 zoning ordinances regulating wind and solar facilities.
Because wind turbines' high visibility may make them more controversial, Andrews said they presented a useful case study for investigating whether voters' attitudes about renewable energy were influenced by elite polarization or perceived local costs and benefits. Texas is at the forefront in both regards, with leaders vilifying wind turbines even as they flourished, typically in less populated areas already accustomed to seeing oil derricks and pump jacks on the landscape. Texas in 2021 produced one-quarter of all U.S. wind-powered electricity generation - leading the nation for the 16th consecutive year - and the state's installed wind capacity more than tripled from 2009 to 2024, to more than 37,000 megawatts.
In the spring of 2023, the research team surveyed a representative online sample of 1,000 Texans, adding an oversample of about 500 participants who lived near utility-scale wind projects (within three miles) and responded to mailed survey invitations.
Results showed 53% of respondents felt positively or very positively about wind turbines, driven by 56% who said they helped the economy, whether through jobs, local tax revenue, increased property values, landowner compensation or reduced energy rates. While seeing a turbine from one's property was associated with more negative attitudes, that effect was dwarfed by perceptions of economic benefits and climate concerns, the researchers said.
And while Democrats supported turbines more than Republicans, the difference was not significant when controlling for other factors. Participants' attitudes did not change after reading randomly assigned statements about wind energy production by either Abbott, a Republican, or former gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat.
Contributing to their overall positive attitudes, the researchers said, survey participants felt they or their communities had a say in the turbine planning process; that developers had acted transparently; and that their communities could influence wind projects' outcomes.
"People felt like they could write a letter, or they could go to a community meeting," Andrews said. "That feeling of being more involved in the process made them more supportive of wind turbines."
Analyzing elections in the 23 state House of Representatives districts that saw turbines constructed between 2012 and 2020, the researchers found no adverse political consequences for incumbents - such as losing votes or gaining a challenger - findings that diverged from some prior research.
"We find no evidence for NIMBY whatsoever - if anything, the opposite, that people seem to like their local wind turbines," Andrews said. "The evidence suggests partisanship is not driving these attitudes, but rather that the economic benefits people are experiencing makes them feel positive about wind turbines."
