Earning trust through deeper community involvement

What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks

The future requires massive infrastructure build-out. But communities have made it clear: They will not accept infrastructure that feels imposed.

That tension in a nutshell—aka Both of These Things Are True:

* We need to build.

* People need agency over what gets built around them.

You know I’ve been writing about the Arc of Outrage: the predictable cycle of public opposition that comes for major infrastructure projects. Right now, the Arc is rising around data centers. But data centers are not the only infrastructure at issue; all infrastructure is entering a new era of scrutiny.

Earlier arcs teach us this crucial lesson: We can’t avoid the outrage, but we can move through the cycle without making it worse. Key insight: Outrage gets enflamed when people believe that decisions have already been made and the public process is performative.

You will encounter outrage. How will you lead through it?

That’s why you should listen to Scott Hallam, president and CEO of Boardwalk Pipelines, on this episode of Energy Thinks. Scott talks about what the pipeline industry learned from its own, earlier Arc of Outrage—and how he’s applying those lessons as he leads one of the companies building the energy future.

Why Scott Hallam?

Because Scott and Boardwalk are working on one of the most important questions in energy right now: How do you build for a generational increase in demand while earning public confidence in a moment of skyrocketing skepticism?

Boardwalk’s Borealis Project is designed to expand access to Marcellus and Utica natural gas supplies and deliver more energy to markets across Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Florida, and the regions in between. Scott says this expansion is part of a broader generational opportunity: onshoring, electrification, data centers, power generation, and the need for affordable, accessible, secure energy.

But Scott does not separate the market opportunity from the human-centered challenges. He has lived through the pipeline battles; he knows how communities react when they feel ignored, managed, or overrun. And he is clear that the industry is better than it used to be, but not yet as good as it needs to be.

As Scott told me, “People want to be part of this process. They don’t want the process to be inflicted upon them.” Communities are not only asking whether a project is safe or economically beneficial. They are asking whether they have any meaningful agency over the future arriving around them.

Scott said something else that you—the energy infrastructure leader—must wrestle with: “I don’t think we could go into a community with any degree of authenticity and the belief that it’s going to happen the way that we envision it without change.”

This is not a concession; it is a leadership posture—one well suited to softening, shortening, and ultimately surviving the Arc of Outrage.

Some of Scott’s insights:

On why opposition isn’t—at its heart—political: “When I’m in a community, I don’t feel like it’s a political issue as much as it is a human issue. When I’m in a community and we’re talking about pipeline projects, and we face concern, even opposition, it’s because people care about their families, they care about their communities, they care about their property. They are very engaged, and I see that as a positive sign.”

How to build real trust: “There’s never a one-size-fits-all approach. Trust is the key ingredient, and to start with trust, we have to understand what’s important to communities. … We want communities to be just as passionate about our projects as we are.”

On the generational opportunity for energy: “We’re in a generational time when it comes to energy and energy infrastructure. … We want to make sure the way we address the market, communities, and landowners matches the moment.”

Bonus content!

More about Scott: Scott joined Boardwalk in 2023, bringing more than 20 years of experience across the upstream, midstream, and downstream natural gas industry. He also serves on the boards of the Southern Gas Association, the United Way of Greater Houston, and the Santiago Partnership.

Watch the episode on YouTube or listen to the podcast on Substack.

More from my Arc of Outrage series: “The Data Center Arc Isn’t Fracking. It’s Worse.,” “We Are Nowhere Near Peak Data Center Outrage,” “The Arc of Outrage Has Come for Data Centers” and “Stop Calling It Data Center Misinformation”

My recent podcast episodes “Persuasion Won’t Shorten the Arc of Outrage” with Lee Beck, “The Ride You Can’t Get Off,” “What You Don’t Know About Community Buy-In” with Jonathan Smith, and “Jim Kerr on Your Generational Opportunity”

Order your copy of The Myth and The Moment: From Polarization to Progress in the New Energy Landscape.

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To building with communities, not in them,

Tisha