Democratic Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) took to X Wednesday to slam the Biden administration’s recent approval of a massive foreign-owned offshore wind energy project off the coast of Massachusetts.
Rep. Golden’s statement comes after the Biden administration approved the new offshore wind project, New England Wind, on April 2, which will be the country’s eighth large offshore wind energy project to be greenlit and will be located south Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.
Avangrid, the company set to install over 100 wind turbines as part of the New England Wind project, is the parent company of Maine’s largest energy utility company, Central Maine Power (CMP).
Avangrid itself is a subsidiary of the Spanish multinational electric utility company Iberdola, which boasts as its largest shareholder the Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar’s state-owned investment fund.
[RELATED: Offshore Wind Projects Facing High Costs and Delays Amid Industry Crisis: WSJ…]
“True energy independence cannot be achieved with foreign ownership of our energy infrastructure,” Golden wrote on X Wednesday. “The ability to generate, transmit and deliver power is a critical asset for any country — not just for families and our economy, but for national security.”
“Nearly every commercial offshore wind lease approved by the Biden administration has been owned by a foreign corporation,” Golden wrote. “In fact, only one approved project has an American owner.”
“In an era of global energy instability, American energy should be built, operated and owned by American companies. That’s the only path to true energy independence,” he added.
In March the Biden administration released a two million acre Wind Energy Area (WEA) in the Gulf of Maine that is designated for the future leasing of offshore wind projects with the capacity to support 32 gigawatts of offshore wind energy — far exceeding Maine’s current offshore wind energy goal of 3 gigawatts.
The final WEA designated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) excludes the entirety of Lobster Management Area 1 (LMA 1), federal waters vital to Maine’s lobster industry, following vigorous opposition from the industry and Maine’s congressional delegation.
In a November statement regarding LMA 1, Golden said that “offshore wind development in the [Gulf of Maine’s] most productive fishing grounds is a threat to Maine fishermen’s way of life.”
Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced in February that she had designated the undeveloped Sears Island for a new 100-acre port dedicated to the construction and installation of offshore wind turbine projects.
[RELATED: Mills Designates the Pristine Sears Island to be Developed For Offshore Wind…]
Gov. Mills said in a press conference announcing the designation that Sears Island “provides us with the best opportunity to responsibly advance offshore wind in Maine, an industry that will create good paying jobs for Maine people and deliver clean, renewable energy to stabilize and reduce energy prices for Maine people and businesses in the long run.”
“Local leaders in Searsport have admitted that if this port is constructed, there will be adverse effects on the local economy and that jobs will be lost,” wrote Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport) in an op-ed for The Maine Wire in opposition to the designation.
Wait a minute, a Democrat who believes in utilizing American energy?!
Qatar is also the home of the Muslim Brotherhood’s mouthpiece Al Jazeera. They also developed and financed (along with Libya and Saudi Arabia) Common Core in an effort to dumb down our children. Looks like it was successful since most climate change advocates are brainwashed Millennials and Zoomers while political hacks profit from it. Always follow the money.
Don’t buy this for a second!!! It’s an election year and a DemoRat saying this. When will Maine people learn to not trust these DemoRats?
Political theater at it’s sleaziest ! This little twerp liar will be right onboard after elections, once he steals another term. CD2 doesn’t want him. We elected Bruce Poliquin who was cheated out of office using “Ranked Choice Voting”.
As usual, Jared Golden misses the big picture, USA wind turbines are just as prone to energy instability as foreign wind turbines. Golden is yet another accessory to the crime of deconstructing the economy with delusional science.
who gives a flying rats tail what the 1st loser says? Up for another rigged election so he’s talking like he cares about ME or ME people. Liar!
He is mad because I do not think be is allowed to invest in foreign companies. Time to retire this guy, come on CD2 you can do it.
More stupid ideas from the lefties. Calling wind and solar clean energy is ludicrous and they are ugly.
Eversource just lost $1.4 BILLION on a failed wind project off the CT/MA coast.
Invest in America!! Vote Trump Golden realy stand up for Maine.
He needs to slam Bidden about the open boarders and inflation!!!
It’s an election year.. he has to disagree with something
Golden is scared his lies aren’t holding up, he’s rubber stamped everything Bidum has pushed! If he’s so concerned why hasn’t he voiced his feeling publicly to Herr Mills she’s pushing this chinese crap just like it’s somebody else’s money, because it is is Mainers tax money that she’s spending on chinese solar panels and foreign developers destroying mountain tops with chinese wind turbines! All useless while she and the democrats in the legislature are trying to close all hydro dams, the only real green energy in the state! Yhey all need to go and many need to be investigated for payoffs!
Windmills are a fool’s errand,…… Solar panels up here 1/2 way to the northpole are even crazier,….
Put Maine Yankee back on-line, ‘n build more nuke plants if you think we need clean power,….
Destroying our coast the last thing we should consider,….