Federal authorities have moved further to reverse course on the Biden administration’s embrace of offshore wind power infrastructure in recent days, earning praise from regional fishermen.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has taken two key actions in the past week in pursuit of bringing an end to offshore wind development throughout the country, including in the Gulf of Maine.
At the end of July, BOEM said that it would be rescinding all designated Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a move in alignment with an Executive Order issued by the President on his first day in office.
WEAs are areas that have been deemed suitable by the federal government for “commercial wind energy activities” that “present[ed] the fewest apparent environmental and user conflicts.”
This move aims to officially end the federal practice of “designating large areas of the OCS for speculative wind development.” As a result of this, 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters will be released across many parts of the country, including in the Gulf of Maine.
Federal Government Moves to End Offshore Wind Development, Including in the Gulf of Maine
American Buddhist Net 