Maddy Kroot

My research examines the environmental politics of energy transitions, with a focus on electricity infrastructure. How can we think spatially about justice, democracy, expertise, and participation in and through energy transitions and infrastructure systems?

I explore how “green-on-green” conflict arises when the need for decarbonization comes into friction with mandates for greater public participation in energy governance and the protection of (especially rural) landscapes targeted for new energy infrastructure. One research project examines community opposition to new high-voltage transmission lines in northern New England, intended to increase imports of Quebecois hydroelectricity to Massachusetts to meet Massachusetts’s decarbonization targets. The project considers transmission both as a mechanism for grid decarbonization and a locus for community contestation over how decisions are made about the energy future – where, by whom, and via what logics. Building from this work on opposition to transmission projects, my second research project focuses on the role of grid operators in regional energy transitions and the emergence of grid activism as a strategy targeting regional grids as the objects of energy, environmental, and climate justice organizing.

Department of Geography Website