The U.S. Department of the Interior announced Friday that it will hold an offshore wind energy lease sale in the Mid-Atlantic, including a 176,505-acre site off Virginia’s coast.
The site approved on Friday, combined with another one off the coast of Maryland and Delaware, could generate up to 6.3 gigawatts of renewable energy with the capacity to power up to 2.2 million homes.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Virginia to build on the promise of a clean energy future, continue the momentum of offshore wind, and promote exciting economic and job growth,” said Grayson Holmes, a senior attorney in the Virginia office of the Southern Environmental Law Center. “We look forward to working with project developers to ensure a successful and environmentally responsible project.”
“To tackle the climate crisis, we must reduce heat-trapping carbon pollution swiftly by transitioning from coal and gas to renewable energy,” said Gudrun Thompson, senior attorney and leader of SELC’s Energy Program. “Offshore wind will play a key role in transitioning our region and the nation to a clean energy future, and we applaud BOEM for tapping into this clean and abundant resource.”
The Final Sale Notice, which will publish in the Federal Register on July 1, includes one area offshore the states of Delaware and Maryland, and one area offshore the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Lease Area A-2 consists of 101,443 acres and is approximately 26 nautical miles from the Delaware Bay. Lease Area C-1 consists of 176,505 acres and is approximately 35 nautical miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
Seventeen companies qualified to participate in the August sale.
“Further offshore wind deployment off our coast means more good-paying jobs in Virginia, more investment in local communities, and more clean energy powering our daily lives – all of which results in a healthy economy and a healthy environment,” said Lee Francis, deputy director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters. “With the nation’s largest offshore wind project currently in development off our coast, and already creating good-paying jobs here in the Commonwealth, Virginia’s solidified its place as an offshore wind leader on the East Coast. This lease sale will allow us to go even further as we continue working toward 100 percent clean energy.”
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Chris Graham
