Catherine the Great once said: “A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.” Islanders have experienced their share of both over the past decade, as visions of energy independence have been tempered by talk of viewsheds, environmental impacts and the preservation of cultural heritage.

Yet another week has passed in the struggle over wind power, this one equal parts headache and imagination. While familiar battles were waged over perceived federal indifference to local concerns, a homegrown clean energy organization got on its feet and joined the kaleidoscopic world of offshore energy interests.

Vineyard Power, an upstart energy cooperative and offshoot of the Vineyard Energy Project, held its first members meeting at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven this past Sunday. According to a Vineyard Power press release, over 100 members attended.

For $50, a membership with Vineyard Power buys you an ownership stake in the organization which promises to deliver cheaper energy, although it does not expect to build turbines until 2016. But the membership drive is on in earnest now, and the cost increases by $50 every quarter until it levels off at $950 in six years. It’s all part of a creative strategy to gain members, credibility and traction in the cutthroat scramble for federal wind money.

Vineyard Power hopes to follow in the success of other similar cooperatives which have secured energy independence, and even profits, for the communities they have served, such as one in Samso, Denmark, which was recently profiled in a New Yorker article.

The venture also marks a departure for the Vineyard Energy Project, whose role as an educational foundation to promote clean energy is slowly transforming to a clean energy utility itself. The organization is also experiencing a change in leadership; it was announced this week that executive director David McGlinchey, who took the job 16 months ago, will step down to pursue other interests. Richard Andre, a member of the energy project board, is now leading Vineyard Power, although Mr. Andre was unavailable for an interview with the Gazette this week.

And while it is not clear just how many turbines the fledging power cooperative plans to build, the reported number has ranged from 17 to 40.

Islanders are encouraged to join the cooperative as a way of exerting some control over the management of the Island’s energy: members will have a say in where the turbines are built and how the cooperative is run.

And this is perhaps an especially appealing message in light of the recent struggles between local and state officials over plans for offshore wind turbines.

In that arena, Islanders who serve on a renewable energy task force for the federal government’s recent plan to open up nearly 4,000 nautical square miles south of the two Islands to wind turbine development, submitted their comments last week to the Minerals Management Service. But they doubt that they will have any real impact.

In a strongly worded letter to the MMS, Chilmark selectman J.B. Riggs Parker objected to the lack of local consultation in selecting the new swath of ocean for development. Mr. Parker especially took issue with what he sees as the haste with which the MMS has been dealing with local task force members

Mr. Parker also criticized the abridged nature of a Jan. 27 meeting which was cut short before many members had a chance to air their concerns. “What does this tell us about the MMS interest in our local input?” he wrote

In a telephone interview this week, Mr. Parker, who favors pushing back the buffer zone for wind development from nine miles to 24 miles, expressed his frustration with the process so far, decrying the lack of communication between MMS and the task force since the Jan. 27 meeting. On the Feb. 5 deadline for comments, task force submissions to the MMS were met with an out-of-office e-mail reply.

“It seems clear to me that they have an agenda which they’ve figured out and that the task force is just an effort on their part to make it look as though they are consulting with local people,” Mr. Parker said.

But he saved especially pointed comments for the maneuvers on Beacon Hill, which have also involved singling out areas off the Vineyard for wind turbine development. “I think that all Deval Patrick wants is his windmill merit badge and [Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs] Ian Bowles is going to be the Boy Scout who gets it for him,” Mr. Parker said.

Other task force members more amenable to wind development also have their doubts about the process so far, including Tisbury selectman Tristan Israel. Mr. Israel expressed his wariness about a blank map provided by the MMS in a letter submitted last Friday.

“There are areas that are off limits because of fishing restrictions, there are areas that are off limits because of archeological concerns, like shipwrecks, and there are other environmental concerns. None of those were on the map they showed us. We were just saying they should put those on the map first before they start showing it to developers,” he said.

The MMS has said that an environmental impact statement will take place after the agency gauges interest from developers, but Mr. Israel finds fault with that approach.

“Once a developer starts to puts a pushpin in an area, they start to take ownership of it. Once that happens, and say there’s something there that precludes them from using their spot, they can always hire what I call a bio-stitute, or an expert who will tell them anything.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Parker and Mr. Israel looked askance at a conference held this week in San Diego called the Wind Power Finance and Investment Summit, as did West Tisbury selectman and task force member Richard Knabel. In an op-ed in the Gazette last week, Mr. Knabel described the event as a clinic held by Wall Street to “tutor potential wind developers on how to line up at the government trough as the floodgates of federal money are opened.”

The summit, which advertises itself on its Web site as the “best deal-making event of the year for the wind community” includes a symposium panel with representatives from Cape Wind.

“I’m a former attorney in the securities field and was an investment banker after that,” said Mr. Parker. “I know a lot of the names in this conference. They are the movers and shakers in the field of finance and law.”

Mr. Israel, Mr. Parker and Mr. Knabel are concerned that the future of Vineyard waters are being decided this week across the country, with little input from local voices.

“I have a funny feeling they brought this blank map from the MMS there with them and showed it to developers,” said Mr. Israel.

For now the Island task force is in limbo. With no future meetings scheduled and having submitted their concerns to the MMS last Friday, members have little to do but wait.

As to whether the MMS is working with local representatives in good faith, Mr. Israel is reserving judgment. “I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll have to see.”