July 25, 2022 — Nearly 1,150 square miles in the western Gulf of Mexico are proposed for offshore wind energy areas, as President Biden said he would do everything within his executive powers to act on climate issues and developing cleaner energy.
The cumulative effect of climate change “is definitely a clear and present danger,” Biden said at Brayton Point in Somerset, Mass., where the old generating site is being redeveloped to manufacture power cables for wind projects off southern New England.
“We see it in America, in red states and blue states,” said Biden, “seeing 100-year droughts happening every few years” and massive damage from hurricanes. “This is an emergency and I’ll look at it that way.”
“Today Brayton Point is on the frontier of clean energy,” he said. In a speech peppered with references to construction jobs, shipbuilding and new manufacturing, he called the site on example of future economic opportunity.
“When I think clean energy, I think jobs,” said Biden.
Timed with Biden’s address, yesterday the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced it was seeking public input on the identification of two potential WEAs in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).