WASHINGTON – Today, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland joined the Secretaries of Energy, Commerce, and Transportation in a White House forum to meet with representatives from states, the offshore wind industry, and members of the labor community to identify solutions to the greatest challenges facing the development of this new industry. Interior is working with agencies across the federal government to advance the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of increasing renewable energy development on federal lands and waters.
The event included a commitment by Interior, Energy and Commerce to establish a target to deploy 30 gigawatts (30,000 megawatts) of offshore wind by 2030, creating nearly 80,000 jobs.
“For generations, we’ve put off the transition to clean energy and now we’re facing a climate crisis. It’s a crisis that doesn’t discriminate - every community is facing more extreme weather and the costs associated with that. But not every community has the resources to rebuild, or even get up and relocate when a climate event happens in their backyards. The climate crisis disproportionately impacts communities of color and low-income families. As our country faces the interlocking challenges of a global pandemic, economic downturn, racial injustice, and the climate crisis – we must transition to a brighter future for everyone,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
At the event, Interior announced the final Wind Energy Areas (WEA) in the New York Bight – an area of shallow waters between Long Island and the New Jersey coast. The goal of the Department’s Area Identification process is to identify the offshore locations that appear most suitable for wind energy development, taking into consideration coexistence with ocean users. As part of this process, Interior removed areas of highest conflict from consideration. The Department received input from the public and other governmental agencies through the Call for Information and Task Force meetings. The WEAs are adjacent to the greater metropolitan Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, which is home to more than 20 million people, representing the largest metropolitan population center in the United States and a significant energy demand. For more information on this announcement, please see: BOEM Advances Offshore Wind in Major U.S. East Coast Energy Market.