Earth Equity News

East Coast Advocates of Offshore Wind Seek to Fast-Track Federal Permitting. By Evan Lehmann, Greenwire, November 9, 2009. "The United States has yet to plant its first turbines in the seafloor, while Europe widens its lead, adding 1-megawatt every day on average, according to its industry group. Europe's offshore winds now produce a total of 1,471 megawatts, the amount of electricity produced by a very large coal-fired power plant... Offshore advocates hope the United States won't repeat its mistakes of three decades ago, when it watched Europe overtake it as the onshore turbine-making headquarters of the world. To make a fast push toward cornering the offshore market, the country needs to establish a nationwide requirement on utilities that makes them use more renewable energy, several industry and government experts said. That would turn eyes toward the East Coast, where land-based wind farms are hard to site, but where strong offshore winds are blowing near big cities that could use the electricity... Nationwide, the United States has seen its onshore turbine production increase twelvefold since 2005, rising from $450 million in components, then to $5.6 billion at the end of last year, according to the American Wind Energy Association. The group notes that 'we are in a foot race to build up a wind turbine manufacturing base here in this country'... General Electric Co., a major maker of onshore turbines, believes the 'focus for offshore activity will continue to be in Europe,' at least in the near term, according to a spokesman, Howard Masto. 'The U.S. is beginning to talk more seriously about offshore wind, but we feel that offshore projects here are still some years away.'

"Representatives from Coastal states in the East... are having discussions with the U.S. Interior Department, which approves seabed leases, about shortening the long line of regulatory hurdles that developers need to clear before they can begin construction. They believe Interior Secretary Ken Salazar might help them convince all the federal agencies involved in offshore to work in cooperation to reduce overlapping requirements for environmental impact statements and other requirements. 'This is a need to bring together all the federal agencies with the states to lay out a rational pathway for review of the projects,' said Mark Sinclair, executive director of the Clean Energy Group, which is leading the effort. 'The justification for that is the Cape Wind project. That's a clear example of where there was no coordination. We should use the Cape Wind project as Exhibit A as what not to do.'"