When in doubt, speak up.
To speak up after all, is to stare at the status quo and simply state - NO
NO more, NO less, NO longer, NOT here, NOT there, NOT to them, NOT to us, NOT later and… certainly… NOT NOW
The status quo, as is to be expected, is not well adjusted to no
Our advice? Speak anyways
As it happens, Rocky Mountain Power represents a Goliath of big business energy in the West whose “status” is about as “quo” as it gets.
So, when a rag tag community of hot springers voiced their opposition to the proposed new dam in the Narrows, a healthy amount corporate muscle flexing was to be expected
When Pacificorp ran a test for the new dam, they ruptured our mother source pond which nearly shut us down for a month - something they knew could happen.
Candidly, we incurred a lot of costs due to this surprise. Shortly after hearing about the impact, our concerns, & our opposition to the dam, they were presented with a choice.
1. Lead like a stakeholder in a community & proactively build trust by building back our source pond
or
2. Retreat down the legal rabbit loophole of attorneys, retribution, & fantastically entertaining theories of how we, AND EVEN YOU, were actually the cause of our source pond woes.
Curious what it looks like when the tiny David’s out there knock on Goliath’s door?
The invitation to restore our pond was met with the litigious logic of
“not our fault, not our problem”
The promise to “study” the issue is stalled until they are obligated to do so.
And, sadly, the corporate HQ has implied they don’t view us, nor themselves, as a neighbor in this hood.
For 5 years, we’ve appreciated the amazing local operating staff of Pacificorp who’ve helped us in times of need.
Not because they had to, but because they chose to. This looked like road support, plowing, resource sharing & more.
Until we said NO dam.
In response, HQ has asked its local staff to no longer pass on by with a plow.
No longer assist in storms. No longer act like a neighbor.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
There is still time for big corporations to learn how to be big neighbors.
To un-think the legal language of “have to” and learn the power of “could do”.