June 13, 2018 — The Trump administration is working with northeastern states to build offshore wind farms in the Atlantic ocean, the Washington Examiner reported.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has received significant pushback from officials in the Northeast over a plan to open the East Coast to offshore drilling. Wind energy is much more popular with the local residents and lawmakers, though.
“When the president said energy dominance, it was made without reference to a type of energy,” Zinke told the Washington Examiner. “It was making sure as a country we are American energy first and that includes offshore wind. There is enormous opportunity, especially off the East Coast, for wind. I am very bullish.”
Massachusetts and Rhode Island recently signed off on a 1,200 megawatt wind farm to be built off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. The wind farm could be the largest constructed in the U.S. Massachusetts awarded a contract to Vineyard Wind to supply 800 megawatts of power to the state, and Rhode Island commissioned another 400 megawatts from Deepwater Wind.
“Market excitement is moving towards offshore wind,” Zinke told the Washington Examiner. “I haven’t seen this kind of enthusiasm from industry since the Bakken shale boom.”