Newsroom: Press Releases
Lautenberg Applauds Federal Ruling to
Allow Wind Energy Projects Off of New
Jersey's Coast
Lautenberg Press Office 202-224-3224
Thursday, February 02,
2012
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) today applauded the Interior Department for finalizing an important environmental review that paves the way for the sale of wind energy leases off the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
“This wind energy initiative is a win for the economy, a win for the environment, and a win for New Jersey,” stated Lautenberg, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “This initiative will help New Jersey become a national leader in wind energy innovation by welcoming business leaders and homegrown clean energy jobs. With our natural resources, workforce, and research institutions, New Jersey is a fertile place to grow a strong wind energy economy. This is the kind of energy development that should be happening off our coasts. Instead of risking oil spills and public health, it will create jobs, clean up our air, and move America to a clean energy future.”
This initiative would allow for wind energy leases in the designated Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) areas of the mid-Atlantic Coast. The federal assessment that led to this initiative being advanced determined that there would be no significant environmental or socioeconomic impacts from issuing leases in the designated areas.
The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) also announced today a new streamlined lease form that will make it easier to award renewable energy leases on the OCS. The new streamlined lease form was developed with input from industry, environmental nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders.
The off-shore wind energy project currently underway near Cape May is a limited demonstration project in state waters. Developers had hoped to expand this demonstration project into a commercial-scale facility in nearby federal OCS waters. Today’s ruling will help that project move forward by opening the coast to leases for much larger scale commercial wind energy projects.
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