December 8, 2020 — Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and the speakers at his annual climate-change conference expressed optimism about dealing with the crisis now that leadership in Washington, D.C., is about to change.
Senator Whitehouse said a new Biden-appointed head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will make early interventions to resolve disagreements between energy developers and the fishing industry to get permits approved.
“Right from the very get-go, even before the filing,” Whitehouse said, “it should be a requirement of the filing to bring a statement of what work you’ve done with the fishing community, what their concerns have been.”
Hinting at the unchecked influence of utilities and hedge funds, Whitehouse noted that offshore developers need to show more restraint.
“Developers shouldn’t just get to go out there, cut a private deal with their funders, their investors, and then put their stamp down in the public ocean as if they owned it,” he said.