The Biden administration is working to significantly expand offshore wind energy along the US east coast, declaring that it is taking measures toward authorizing a major wind farm off the coast of New Jersey as part of a proposal to produce enough electricity to fuel over 10 million homes by 2030.
Job and Economic Opportunity
According to the White House, meeting the goal will result in more than 44,000 new jobs and 33,000 new jobs in related fields. The effort will also help stop 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, a crucial move towards slowing the climate crisis.
Joe Biden, according to White House environment advisor Gina McCarthy, "believes we have an immense opportunity in front of us to not only resolve the challenges of climate change but to use it as an opportunity to generate millions of good-paying, union jobs that will boost America's economic recovery."
"The size of the potential is more precise nowhere than in offshore wind.
She went on to say that the pledge will "build paths to the middle class for people from all cultures and communities."
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Environmental Preparation
The administration has announced that it plans to prepare a comprehensive environmental report for the Ocean Wind project off the coast of New Jersey, clearing the way for it to become the US's third commercial-scale offshore wind project.
The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said it searched for offshore wind projects in shallow waters between Long Island, New York, and New Jersey. According to a tweet, a new report showed that the city will accommodate up to 25,000 production and construction jobs by 2030.
OEM plans to sell industrial leases in late 2021 or early 2022, according to the company.
Ocean Wind will generate about 1,100 megawatts a year, enough to fuel 500,000 homes, 15 miles off the coast of southern New Jersey.
Environmental assessments for Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts and the South Fork wind farm about 35 miles east of Montauk Point in New York have been announced by the Interior Department. Vineyard Wind is projected to generate 800 megawatts, while South Fork will generate 132.
As part of his attempt to slow the climate crisis, Biden has pledged to double offshore wind capacity by 2030. The possible acceptance of the Atlantic coast schemes, which are the forerunners of at least 16 offshore wind projects along the east coast, represents a significant shift from the Trump administration's opposition to wind power on land and sea.
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Fixing Wind Power's Reputation
Wind power has been vilified by Donald Trump as an expensive, bird-killing energy source, and his administration has battled or rejected initiatives like Vineyard Wind. To avoid a potential denial, the Massachusetts project's developer temporarily withdrew its submission. Soon after assuming office in January, Biden gave the project a new lease on life.
"We've put off the transition to renewable energies for years, and now we're facing a climate crisis," said Deb Haaland, the interior secretary.
"We must move to a better future for all while our world faces the interlocking pressures of a global pandemic, economic collapse, social inequality, and the climate crisis."
Vineyard Wind is set to go live in 2023, with Ocean Wind coming a year later.
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Economic Potentials
In the United States, offshore wind production is only in its infancy, lagging well behind Europe. A tiny windfarm is located in Rhode Island's territorial waters, and another is located off the coast of Virginia.
European companies or branches own the three main projects. Vineyard Wind is a partnership between a Danish company and a US unit of Iberdrola, a Spanish energy company. Orsted, a Danish corporation, is in charge of Ocean Wind and South Fork.
According to Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, wind entrepreneurs are on track to build tens of thousands of jobs and $100 billion in new investment by 2030, "but the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management must first open the door to new leasing."
Huge offshore wind developments have worried fishing communities from Maine to Florida, who fear that they will cut off large swaths of the ocean to their catch.
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