In the last decade people in different parts of Turkey have been putting themselves in front of bulldozers quite frequently in order to stop various construction projects. A very common type of resistance is against the numerous hydroelectric power plants (HEPP) that are being planned and constructed without taking the ecological and social impacts of them. There are almost no limits where HEPPs can be constructed. In this paper I analyze the HEPP projects in Turkey and the resistance of the local people with a focus on the province of Rize in the Eastern Black Sea region from the perspective of how the local people react to changing involvement of state in their lives. Rize is selected as the research focus of this paper since the Turkish state played a significant role especially starting in the 1950s and 1960s in promoting the emerging tea industry, increasing the economic development and shaping the employment structure in the region through the state owned tea company Cay Kurumu. However, since the 80s, this traditional emphasis on agriculture and the state’s direct involvement with the people has gradually changed. The change has been especially stark in the last decade under the government of Justice and Development Party (AKP). The emphasis on state-led agriculture was replaced with an emphasis on privatization, urbanization and energy development. The valleys and the rivers in Rize have attracted the attention of national and multinational companies quickly because of the topography of the region which is mountainous and rich in water resources and therefore, energy potential. In response to these developments local people started to get together; inform each other about the destructing effects of the HEPPs. They founded platforms that in some cases include environmental NGOs and lawyers and started building a struggle both on a legal and resistance level. As a result of their long lasting struggle some villagers succeed in preventing the construction of HEPPs to their valley. This paper analyzes the relationship between the state and local people that is undergoing significant change in Turkey by focusing on the case of Rize and the emerging environmental movements.