The Biden administration on Monday introduced a plan to promote offshore wind improvement rights for 2 areas off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia subsequent yr.
The proposed sale by public sale is the most recent effort by President Joe Biden’s Interior Department to speed up the enlargement of offshore wind power to fight local weather change.
The administration has cast forward with its bold offshore leasing plan regardless of hovering business prices and provide chain constraints which have derailed some tasks. Its final lease sale, held in August for 3 areas within the Gulf of Mexico, ended with a single profitable bid.
Interior proposed to supply 101,443 acres off the coasts of Delaware and Maryland and 176,505 acres off the coast of Virginia. If developed, the 2 areas have the potential to energy greater than 2.2 million properties, the company stated.
Interior will search public touch upon the areas for 60 days earlier than making a ultimate resolution on whether or not to lease any of the proposed areas.
The public sale, which may very well be held in the midst of subsequent yr, can be the fifth since Biden took workplace in 2021. The administration has additionally stated it plans to carry lease gross sales for areas off Oregon and Maine subsequent yr.
Also on Monday, Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) stated it was evaluating extra areas off the Maryland coast for future offshore wind leasing.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
