Global Courant 2023-05-30 23:33:27
The Biden administration moved closer on Tuesday to green-lighting the sale of offshore wind energy leases of approximately 682,000 acres in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released a final environmental assessment that it described as a “significant milestone” as part of the Biden administration’s goal to hold the first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The assessment, which analyzed the effects of leasing on the environment and wildlife, coincided with a finding that there were no significant effects.
“The completion of our environmental assessment is an important step forward in promoting clean energy development in a responsible manner while promoting economic vitality and high-paying jobs in the Gulf of Mexico,” BOEM executive director Liz Klein said in a statement.
“We will continue to work closely with our task force members, ocean users and others to ensure that any development in the region is conducted responsibly and in a way that avoids, reduces or mitigates potential impacts on ocean users and the marine environment.” she continued.
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Wind turbines generate electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm on July 7, 2022, near Block Island, Rhode Island. (John Moore/Getty Images)
According to BOEM, federal officials worked with the Gulf of Mexico Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force — a collaboration of stakeholders including tribal and local officials — to prepare Tuesday’s environmental assessment and accompanying finding of no significant impacts.
The announcement comes amid widespread calls from legislators, environmentalists and local leaders along the East Coast for the Biden administration to halt all offshore wind rental and construction until a thorough investigation into its impact on sensitive marine life is conducted. Since December, at least 39 whales and 37 dolphins have been found on stranded beaches along the east coast near offshore wind research sites.
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“These industrial wind grids are money grabbers for big business and legacy builders for politicians,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew, RN.J., representing New Jersey’s south coast, told Fox News Digital in April. “To replace fossil fuels, they will have to lease millions upon millions of acres of our oceans and lakes to generate the energy we already produce.”
“Think about it: a wall of turbines along our horizon for decades to come, generating more expensive energy for homes and businesses, killing marine life, destroying generational industries,” he continued. “The warnings are clear and our president and government must listen and act before it is too late.”
Van Drew has been one of several legislators who have repeatedly called for a federal moratorium on offshore wind energy until further research is done on the impacts of wind development. In March, Van Drew and Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Chris Smith, RN.J., and Andy Harris, R-Md., federal officials to release more information on wildlife impacts, citing 1.7 million acres water along the Atlantic coast had already been leased.
Lawmakers have called for a moratorium on offshore wind development in light of the recent beach increase in whales and dolphins along the East Coast. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
In addition, on March 30, a bill drafted by Smith requiring a comprehensive, independent review of the current environmental assessment process of federal offshore wind projects passed on a bipartisan vote in a vote of 244 to 189. The bill was introduced as an amendment to the Lower House Act energy costs that the House of Representatives passed with weakened votes that same day.
“The approval process for offshore wind industrialization has left countless serious questions unanswered and unanswered regarding the potentially harmful environmental impact on the marine life and ecosystems that currently allow all marine animals great and small to thrive,” Smith said during a speech at the House- floor.
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Still, federal officials have pushed ahead with offshore wind energy development and brushed off criticism of its impact on wildlife, arguing that increased whale and dolphin deaths have nothing to do with wind development.
Days after taking office, President Biden issued an executive order ordering his administration to expand opportunities for the offshore wind industry as part of his aggressive climate agenda to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Months later, he outlined goals to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, including some in the Gulf of Mexico, the most ambitious goal of its kind worldwide.
President Joe Biden points to a comparison chart for wind turbine sizes at a meeting on the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership on June 23, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
In May 2021, BOEM approved the 800 megawatt Vineyard Wind project 12 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, marking the first-ever large-scale offshore wind approval. Then, in November 2021, the agency approved the 130-megawatt Southfork Wind project off the coast of New York’s Long Island, its second commercial-scale offshore project.
And last year, BOEM completed two Gulf of Mexico wind farms — 508,265 acres off the coast of Texas and 174,275 acres off the coast of Louisiana — within a larger 30 million-acre call area. The Interior Ministry proposed rental sales in those areas in February.
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“Today’s announcement is an important step toward building out the US offshore wind sector,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association. “The Gulf of Mexico has long been known for its position as a premier offshore energy hub, led by low-carbon barrels of oil, and this achievement underscores its history of innovation and leadership.”
“New sales of offshore wind leasing – along with the resumption of a long-running oil and gas leasing program – provide a foundation for the continued success of the Gulf of Mexico’s remarkable and irreplaceable energy portfolio.”
Thomas Catenacci is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
