Ironically I think smaller local issues are often harder for the wealthy to influence than bigger national issues. As a concerned resident I can probably actual

Ironically I think smaller local issues are often harder for the wealthy to influence than bigger national issues. As a concerned resident I can probably actually talk face to face with my city representative, and share my concerns about a project like this. I have pretty much no chance of meeting face to face with my state representative without cash or some other means of influence. The councilor probably also has significantly less need for campaign donations from rich benefactors than a national representative. And finally, local representative are most likely making decisions that affect them pretty directly as a resident, whereas national representatives may often be making decisions that have widely dispersed or no direct personal impact. These are all reasons regularly brought forth by Libertarians and Republicans who prefer that centralized government entities defer to local entities as much as possible.