Building trust through people, not press releases.
We are a Texas-focused public engagement and communications firm specializing in local outreach, opposition management and stakeholder relations.
Working with clients across energy infrastructure - power producers, data centers, transmission developers - we build the permission infrastructure that allows bold projects to advance and companies to endure.
In a landscape where public voices are louder, opposition mobilizes faster, and scrutiny arrives earlier, social permission is no longer a soft variable - it’s a determining condition for financing, permitting, siting, and long-term success.
Through a listen-first approach and relationship-centered engagement, we enable communities to feel ownership rather than opposition, and help our clients navigate complex local dynamics and overcome hurdles - one community at a time.
We work with clients to translate complex projects into community understanding and community expectations into project reality. Our services are built around the three moments that determine whether a project earns and keeps social permission: before resistance forms, when resistance is active, and after the project becomes part of a community’s and the company’s legacy.
Our Services
Public Engagement Campaigns
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We specialize in building the social permission that enables projects to move from early concept to credible commitment. With a listen-first model grounded in trust and local relationships, we help projects build legitimacy before narratives harden and mistrust calcifies. Our campaign approach views social permission not as an afterthought, but as a prerequisite. Not as messaging, but as relationship-building. Not as publicity, but as shared ownership
Opposition Management
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When skepticism becomes organized resistance, success depends on the ability to repair trust, not out-message it. We diagnose the roots of opposition, reopen authentic channels of dialogue, and address credibility gaps through presence, transparency, and relationship repair. The goal is not to “win a fight,” but to reestablish permission — so institutions, regulators, and communities feel safe continuing forward.
Reputation Stewardship
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Projects no longer live in isolation; they accumulate into a public track record. The way a company listens, shows up, and engages today determines whether future projects are welcomed or contested. We help organizations convert one-time legitimacy into sustained credibility, so each new project benefits from the goodwill of the last.
Industry Focus: Energy & Digital Infrastructure
We work in sectors where community permission is as decisive as capital, engineering, or regulatory approval. These sectors face not just technical complexity, but legitimacy risk: the risk that communities never see where the project fits into their lives, their priorities, or their future. Our work bridges that gap by building the narrative of understanding that connects what a project delivers to what people actually value - reliability, prosperity, local relevance, and long-term stewardship.
Energy Infrastructure
Projects that change visual landscapes and land use patterns, requiring trust before impact is visible.
Large-footprint development with outsized power and land demands that increasingly face community scrutiny.
Data Centers
Transmission & Grid Buildout
Highly corridor-dependent infrastructure where local sentiment can accelerate siting - or shut it down.
Advanced Manufacturing
High-visibility investments that promise jobs and tax base, but must still prove local benefit and long-horizon accountability.
Next-Gen Energy
Emerging technologies that must build legitimacy and familiarity before they can build infrastructure.
Rural Land Development
Infrastructure challenges, land and wildlife impacts and visual changes require local buy-in and understanding.
We are communications practitioners who operate at the intersection of strategy and fieldwork. We bring extensive experience in public affairs, external relations, corporate and crisis communications, and community engagement to help organizations advance complex initiatives in fast-moving and often challenging environments.
Meet the Team
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PartnerDavid “Marshall” Coover, III is a seasoned public affairs and external relations professional with a track record of advancing complex infrastructure and energy projects across the South. His experience spans senior leadership in renewable energy, government service, regulatory consulting, and cofounding a high-growth consumer brand. He holds a JD, an MBA, and is licensed to practice law in Texas.
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Partner
Alan Goss is a dynamic communications professional with over eighteen years of professional experience and expertise in community engagement, stakeholder relations, reputation and brand stewardship, public affairs and crisis communications. With roles at notable firms such as Public Strategies, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, the Monument Group and four years running his own firm, Bonham PR, Alan brings years of experience to Coover | Goss and is dedicated to helping clients navigate the complexities of public engagement and driving client success through data-informed strategy, compelling storytelling and effective execution that delivers meaningful impact.
We are your boots on the ground and voice in the community.
Coover | Goss
1504 San Antonio St. Austin, TX 78701
Marshall@coovergoss.com
Alan@coovergoss.com