This research project and dataset began as a Michigan State University Undergraduate Honors class project in 2024 and continues currently with multiple students, both graduate and undergraduate, collaborating as members of a single research team. The team is currently led by D.Horowitz with D. Bessette advising.

The project was intended to document groups, primarily organized and operating online, that are working either to actively support or oppose large-scale renewable energy projects in the United States (US).

We relied on 7 principal sources to develop this dataset. These include:

i) The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law’s report on Opposition to Renewable Energy Facilities,

ii) Robert Bryce’s Renewable Rejection Database,

iii) Canary Media’s Energy News Digests,

iv) Land & Liberty Coalition’s Weekly Siting News Digest,

v) EIA 860 data,

vi) GemWiki from Global Energy Monitor, and

vii) Extensive Google Internet Searches

The data is organized using Microsoft Excel.

The Excel dataset contains a ReadMe tab explaining the variables included. These include: the state, municipality, energy project, technology, land area, developer, organization name and platform used, the number of members if available, relevant source material, and EIA 860 data when available.

We would like to thank the MSU Honors College’s Professorial Assistantship and Research Scholars Program for funding the student researchers who worked on this project.