Abstract
Water, environment and energy conflicts are particularly complex—easy to distort and difficult to resolve. The Cape Wind conflict, which began in 2001 over plans to develop the first offshore wind farm in the United States (US), has been complicated by the incompatible interests and power dynamics of multiple parties, scientific uncertainty, and the requirements of national, state and local government jurisdictions. This paper analyses the first phase of the protracted negotiations. It draws lessons from the author’s book project on the Cape Wind conflict (upcoming 2015). The research objective is to develop user-friendly techniques and tools for mapping not only the power dynamics of environmental negotiations over time but also the “turning point” influences of high power stakeholders and external factors, such as environmental catastrophes, political outcomes and technical innovations.