The U.S. Department of the Interior on Tuesday announced their proposal to lease nearly one million acres in the Gulf of Maine for offshore wind energy projects.
The Biden administration’s proposed sale would cover approximately half of the final two million acre Wind Energy Area (WEA) off the coast of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) last month.
[RELATED: Jared Golden Slams Biden Admin’s Approval of Foreign-Owned Offshore Wind Projects…]
The proposed eight lease areas in the final WEA would have the potential to generate approximately 15 gigawatts of energy, and to power more than five million homes, according to the Department of the Interior.
“Since the start of the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of the Interior has approved the nation’s first eight commercial-scale offshore wind energy projects. Today’s announcement represents another stride in our commitment to building a greener energy future while creating jobs and supporting families,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a Tuesday press release.
“We’re taking decisive action to catalyze America’s offshore wind industry and leverage American innovation to provide reliable, affordable power to homes and businesses, all while addressing the climate crisis,” Haaland said.
BOEM will be taking public comment on the proposed lease areas from May 1 to July 1, 2024, to get feedback on various aspects of the proposal, including the size, orientation and location of the eight areas, as well as which areas, if any, should be prioritized for lease sale.
According to BOEM, they are also seeking feedback on possible “lease stipulations” for potential leaseholders regarding vessel transit, environmental monitoring, and stakeholder engagement with Tribes, the fishing industry and other potentially affected stakeholders or communities.
[RELATED: Offshore Wind Projects Facing High Costs and Delays Amid Industry Crisis: WSJ…]
“As we move forward with offshore wind energy in Oregon and the Gulf of Maine, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management remains dedicated to close collaboration with our government partners and key stakeholders,” BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein said Tuesday. “We’re excited to unveil these proposed sales and emphasize our commitment to exploring the potential for offshore wind development from coast to coast.”
Last week, Secretary Haaland announced a new five-year offshore wind lease schedule, which includes up to 12 potential offshore wind energy lease sales through 2029.
The Interior Department has held four offshore wind lease auctions and approved eight commercial-scale offshore wind projects since the start of the Biden-Harris administration, with more leases anticipated in the next five years in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and waters offshore U.S. territories.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="27640 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=27640">13 Comments
Where have all the voices from the many environmentalists groups disappeared to?
Maybe they should try fixing the problems with the current supply. They may be able to generate power but they cannot supply it 100% of the time!!!!
You can fool some of the people into believing climate disasters are a result of a molecule that mother nature regulates.
The best part of the awakening of this scam is the gargantuan class action lawsuit that follows.
Preserve your records, climate pervs.
ISO-NE offers a good observation. The Gulf of Maine selected wind project area is closer to Massachusetts than Maine and if the output from these projects were to be cabled to Maine, it would require billions of dollars in New transmission lines from Maine to Southern New England.
Maine must start thinking about a separation from ISO-NE. All the money Maine ratepayers put into ongoing wind and solar projects is going mainly into advancing Massachusetts renewables goals or penalties, as you choose.
The Federal, State and even local governments have the biggest case of Attention Deficit Disorder. About ten years ago in my Southern Maine municipality we were encouraged to be a “pilot” for the expansion of Natural Gas throughout the core populated area. We were told it was more efficient and a renewable “clean” energy source. As an elected official I was one who opposed, mainly on the grounds I knew the “savings and efficiencies” touted by Unitil was a bunch of bull AND any savings that were realized would just be borne onto taxpayers when it came to repairing all our infrastructure. Regardless, they spent 3 summers digging all our streets…many of which were in great shape. Years later the roads are constantly in disrepair from all the trenching AND those who switched to nat gas report little to no savings vs oil. I personally preferred to stay on oil as it’s been very reliable and I could play the market vs have no other option.
Fast forward to today and Natural Gas & Oil are evil and now we are fixated on electric based everything with inadequate infrastructure in place to support these goals. Current administrations are incredibly quick to ignore all the new impacts and costs associated with these changes because of course it’s all about “Climate Change”.
To be clear I believe in being a good steward of the earth and doing my part to preserve it, however I think most Mainers do too. We have clean reliable energy from our hydroelectric dams and at one point we had a nuclear power plant that could have continued to provide clean affordable energy as technologies advanced until FEAR forced its closure. We are a rural state which naturally means more transportation emissions, but instead of investing in public transit and new technologies to clean up the gas/diesel (both reliable engines), we shift towards unproven and unreliable options. Long story short why not focus on improving what we have rather than tearing down and recreating….but that’s government in a nut shell for you.
Are we now taking for granted the “stakeholder” language that pervades our discourse? By ceding this linguistic territory we are validating the stakeholder capitalism model (see Klaus Schwab WEF) which is at the heart of every political issue that confronts us. America is based on shareholder capitalism. Stakeholder capitalism takes power away from taxpayers and puts it into the hands of a council of so-called experts. Stakeholder capitalism = globalism.
They attempted to hold an auction for these leases a couple of years ago and no one took them up on it.
Unless it’s heavily subsidized with our tax money they don’t happen.
They are guaranteed money losers.
It will be interesting to see how many of their wind turbines are still standing the first time a hurricane passes through the area. This has been a major problem for other US off shore wind projects.
I did not realize the “Department of the Interior” owned the Atlantic Ocean seabed and could willy-nilly lease it out to whomever it chooses. I was under the mistaken impression that the ocean was controlled by international law and free to anyone to use within that international law.
Maybe the Chines will buy it.
What happens when the oil leaks into the water…. Where are all the environmentalists?
All this bs for a problem that doesn’t exist.(climate change). Two million acres of ocean ruine(ugly windmills), another useless gov’t agency(BOEM) spending your fake money, and more than likely a potential environmental disaster.
blob:https://www.themainewire.com/530e67d1-6b71-456e-8f65-3d6614012021
blob:https://www.themainewire.com/5baa9814-cc98-475e-88d2-7de9e01cd1e6
Rolling blackouts on the rolling sea.