For Immediate Release: January 12, 2022
Contact:
Deb Coyle McFadden, Executive Director, NJ Work Environment Council, dcoyle@njwec.org Cell: 609-707-1320
Doug O’Malley, Director, Environment New Jersey, domalley@environmentnewjersey.org, Cell: 917-449-6812
Biden Administration Announces NY Bight Offshore Wind Lease Auction
Action Will Open Up 480,000 Acres to Offshore Wind Off the Jersey Shore
Trenton – Today, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced that BOEM will hold a wind energy auction on Feb. 23, 2022, for six lease areas with more than 480,000 acres in the New York Bight. The lease areas have the potential to produce 5.6 to 7 gigawatts of offshore wind area, enough to power two
million homes. This will be the first offshore wind energy auction under the Biden-Harris Administration.
Secretary Haaland was joined by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and New York Governor Kathy Hochul to outline their shared vision for developing a robust offshore wind domestic supply chain that will deliver benefits to residents of New York and New Jersey and the surrounding region, including underserved communities. This collaboration will serve as a model for future engagement and establish the U.S. as a major player in the global offshore wind market.
Debra Coyle, Executive Director, NJ Work Environment Council and Jersey Renews Co-Chair, released the following statement on the news:
“We applaud and thank the Biden-Harris Administration and BOEM for including stipulations to ensure we strengthen the middle class by creating good, family sustaining union jobs and access to these jobs as we tackle the climate crisis. This is exactly the kind of leadership and out of the box thinking we need as we grow this nascent industry.
The sale of these lease areas in the NY Bight will create thousands of jobs in manufacturing, construction, operations, maintenance, and service industries. BOEM is requiring specific stipulations to encourage offshore wind projects to be built using union labor, lessees contribute to the creation of a U.S. based
offshore wind supply chain, and procurement of major offshore wind energy components domestically.
Since the founding of Jersey Renews in 2017, we have strongly advocated for offshore wind projects to be built with union labor and the creation of a domestic low-carbon supply chain. Today we took a monumental step forward. Generating energy from responsibly developed offshore wind is the winning strategy to allow New Jersey to reach its clean energy goals.”
Doug O’Malley, Director of Environment New Jersey, and Jersey Renews Co-Chair, released the following statement on the news:
“New Jersey has long led the nation on offshore wind initiatives and is now poised to expand the potential for the clean energy goldmine off the Jersey Shore with today’s Biden Administration announcement. Unlocking this swath of area in the New York Bight is pivotal to reaching Gov. Murphy’s goal of 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035 – and go beyond that. We have more than enough wind blowing off the Jersey Shore to meet our current and future electricity needs, and we should be thinking big on how to power our state with clean energy to meet the 50% renewable energy by 2030 mandate.
Clean, renewable energy is the solution our state and country desperately need. As extreme weather events become more common and our coastline becomes ever more vulnerable, it’s clear the time is now to turn away from fossil fuels and towards the promise of offshore wind. With the potential to power 2.6 million homes here in the Garden State, these lease areas stand to revolutionize how New Jerseyans get their power. This collaboration aims to serve as a model for future engagement and continues to cement the reality that the United States – and New Jersey – needs to lead on offshore wind to mitigate climate change’s impacts. We urge the Murphy Administration to build on this collaboration and continue its leadership making New Jersey the national leader on offshore wind.”
