The Biden administration has announced a new five-year schedule for leasing federal offshore tracts for wind energy production. The plan includes up to a dozen lease sales anticipated beginning this year and continuing through 2028, with sales planned for the Gulf of Mexico, Central Atlantic, Gulf of Maine, Oregon, New York Bight, and California, Hawaii, and an as-yet unspecified U.S. territory.
The sales will be coordinated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Since the start of President Biden’s administration, the Interior Department has approved the nation’s first eight large offshore wind projects and held four offshore wind auctions, including first-ever sales in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.
“As we look toward the future, this new leasing schedule will support the types of renewable energy projects needed to lower consumer costs, combat climate change, create jobs to support families, and ensure economic opportunities are accessible to all communities,” Haaland said in a news release ahead of remarks to a conference in New Orleans.
Haaland also announced Wednesday that BOEM and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement had finalized updated regulations for renewable energy development offshore.
