President Obama’s plan for the Outer Continental Shelf does not include any new oil and gas leases in the Atlantic Ocean over the next five years, but it does include windmills.
The Interior Department wants to lease nearly 278,000 acres off the coasts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Virginia for wind energy.
The lease sales, to be held next year, will be the first-ever competitive sales on the Outer Continental Shelf for wind energy, and the Interior Department describes the lease sales as “major milestones” in its wind energy program.
“Wind energy along the Atlantic holds enormous potential, and today we are moving closer to tapping into this massive domestic energy resource to create jobs, increase our energy security and strengthen our nation’s competitiveness in this new energy frontier,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Friday.
Read more.