• Energy Research

Abstract During ten-plus years of debate over the proposed Cape Wind facility off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the public's understanding of its environmental, economic, and visual impacts matured. Tradeoffs also have become apparent to scientists and decision-makers during two environmental impact statement reviews and other stakeholder processes. Our research aims to show how residents' opinions changed during the debate over this first-of-its-kind project in relation to understandings of project impacts. Our methods included an examination of public opinion polls and the refereed literature that traces public attitudes and knowledge about Cape Wind. Next we conducted expert elicitations to compare trends with the level of understanding held by small groups of scientists and Cape Cod stakeholders. Our review found that Massachusetts residents became more supportive of the project while our research demonstrated the gap between scientific and lay knowledge diminished late in the debate. To facilitate planning for other offshore energy projects, we recommend steps to move the public to an informed position more quickly.

Abstract The recreational uses of coastal lagoons (also known locally as salt ponds) contribute significantly to the important tourism economy of the southern part of the US state of Rhode Island. The lagoons are valued highly for the wide range of recreational services they provide, such as fishing, clamming, rowing, boating, or merely relaxing. Outdoors on or near the water, weather conditions may influence individual recreation decisions strongly. A changing climate is expected to affect weather conditions in Rhode Island, thereby potentially influencing when, how, and how much recreation will take place in the coastal areas of the state. Through direct observations of human activities on coastal lagoons, the sensitivity of coastal recreational uses to changes in weather conditions was assessed. If future changes in climate bring warmer temperatures and more intense wind and rain events, our results suggest that there may be a decrease in relaxing, rowing, and fishing on coastal lagoons when days are hotter and a decrease in rowing and fishing when days are windier. Nevertheless, warmer temperatures also may lengthen the summers, leading to an overall increase in the peak coastal recreation season. However, during the hottest periods, there may be a shift toward more motor boating and away from other uses, motor boaters were more resistant than other users to changes when temperatures increase. Understanding how weather and climate influence coastal recreation could help coastal managers and businesses better plan for the future in Rhode Island and other coastal environments worldwide.

Along the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts, port authorities and governments have been competing for access to federal funds to deepen the channels and berths in each of the major estuary-based harbors, thereby facilitating access by larger containerships. Consistent with a source-to-sea conceptualization, physical modifications of an estuary can result in dynamic changes to its water and sediment flows, resulting in new arrangements of environmental features. These modifications, in turn, can lead to redistributions of the net benefits arising from extant flows of valued ecosystem services to stakeholders and communities in the broader river-estuary system. Here, some of the implications of channel deepening in the Hudson river-estuary system were examined as a case study. An integrated analytical framework was developed, comprising hydrodynamic models of water flows and environmental characteristics, especially salinity; extreme value estimates of the occurrence of regional droughts; and assessments of the welfare effects of changes in ecosystem services. Connections were found among channel deepening in the lower estuary, increased risks to fluvial drinking water withdrawals in the upper estuary, and expected economic losses to hydropower generation in the upper river. The results argue for a more inclusive consideration of the consequences of human modifications of river-estuary systems.