ABSTRACT
Long before development began, local residents experienced a number of unpleasant impacts related to their anticipation of pending industrialization. The attendant practices and rules persisted through decades and greatly influenced present-day locals' reactions to the proposed coal development. Ranchers were also experiencing strains in their attempts to deal with the industrial trespassers. The proposed mine and power plant — and the suspicion of more to follow — gave ranchers occasion to reflect on how much and at what rate of what kind of development-induced change they could manage without losing control of their community, businesses, and lives. Although landowners generally wanted a voice in decisions on coal development on their own and their neighbors' land, they simply did not know of any appropriate and acceptable mechanisms for expressing it. The pro-development ranchers justified their position largely in terms of helping the nation meet its energy needs.
