The Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire Senate delegations urge the Biden administration to properly asses the impacts of wind development

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) sent a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) from the Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire Senate delegations seeking to ensure that offshore wind developments in the Gulf of Maine are pursued in a sustainable manner backed by “rigorous scientific research.” In the letter to BOEM Director Amanda Lefton, King and Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) highlight the significant potential for offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, but stress that additional thorough research is needed to assess the impacts on local industries and ecosystems.

“As members of the Congressional delegations of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, we write in support of critical baseline research and scientific studies to inform sustainable offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine,” wrote the lawmakers. “We recognize the potential for our states to produce significant clean, renewable energy and to harbor a new industry and workforce through responsible development of offshore wind off our shores. Our state governments have already begun the process of engaging with a range of ocean users and leaders of the region’s fishing and marine industries in order to minimize conflicts with existing users and marine life. However, it is essential that BOEM do additional outreach and research to inform the agency’s planning process prior to conducting lease sales and to improve the ability to assess, predict, monitor, and manage potential environmental impacts of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine.”

“Ongoing stakeholder engagement in New England has identified additional data gaps in the areas of socioeconomic and cumulative impact assessments of offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine. As such, we support regionally specific research on the projected economic impacts of offshore wind to existing ocean users and an assessment of the data and approaches to evaluating the cumulative impacts of offshore wind in the region,” concluded the lawmakers. “As we work to advance offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine in a sustainable and fiscally responsible manner, BOEM’s efforts to bolster regional outreach and comprehensive wildlife and habitat data collection through the Environmental Studies Program with the best available science will be critical. We appreciate BOEM’s focus on the Gulf of Maine and look forward to continuing our close engagement with the agency as these studies are initiated in advance of expected lease sales.”

+++

In the letter, the Senators also voiced their strong support for the floating wind development research array backed by the University of Maine.

“As part of developing the needed research and understanding the impacts of development, the State of Maine recently submitted a federal lease application to BOEM for a noncommercial small-scale research array using an innovative floating wind turbine designed at the University of Maine,” said the lawmakers. “We support Maine’s application for this research array and believe it would provide important and complementary data points to an Ecological Baseline Study and a comprehensive assessment of existing ecosystem data in the Gulf of Maine, all of which will help inform regional wind development potential.”

As a member of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee and a founding member of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, Senator King is a forceful advocate for sustainable clean energy solutions wherever they can be found. He introduced the Joint Long-Term Storage Act to speed up deployment of long-duration energy storage technologies through strategic collaboration between federal agencies that was signed into law last year, and cosponsored the Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act, bipartisan legislation which would establish an investment tax credit (ITC) for business and home use of energy storage. In a hearing of the ENR Committee last year, King touted the opportunities of offshore wind to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, and lauded the work being done on these technologies at the University of Maine.

Original source can be found here.