Salazar, East Coast Governors Form Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and ten East Coast governors to include Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell signed a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday to create an Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium to promote “the efficient, orderly, and responsible development of wind resources on the Outer Continental Shelf”.
Glen Besa, Director, Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter, offers the following statement:
“Offshore wind development presents a golden opportunity for the Atlantic Coast states, and especially Virginia, with its ideal location and existing deep-water port and manufacturing capabilities. The technology is commercially and technologically viable right now, and could soon be producing a significant part of the commonwealth’s energy supply, as well as employing thousands of Virginians in green jobs”.
“But the existing leasing and permitting process, taking seven years from application to construction, is slow and cumbersome, and discourages investors. We encourage MMS to pare it down to its essentials, which in our view is primarily the NEPA process, including environmental impact statements. Streamlining the leasing and permitting process will present a more realistic financing scenario for investors and bring wind farms to Virginia sooner”.
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