US government announces opening of Atlantic coast for offshore wind farms

[kpete]

Source: The Guardian UK

US government announces opening of Atlantic coast for offshore wind farms
Department of the interior will offer lease sales on areas off coasts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia

The first offshore project, Cape Wind, a 130-turbine farm in Nantucket Sound, ran into fierce opposition from the late Senator Ted Kennedy and Indian tribes. It is due to start producing power at the end of 2015, after nearly 15 years of legal battles.

Officials said the areas chosen for the new lease sales were the "best suited" to wind development, and had been sited to avoid environmental concerns or conflicts with locals.

The first wind zone, off Rhode Island and Massachusetts, is just 10 miles off the coast. It will be leased in two parts. The proposed lease area in Virginia is about 23 nautical miles off southern Virginia.

Officials said the lease sale announced on Friday represented a first step in opening up offshore areas. Other blocks identified include areas of North Carolina and New Jersey. There are also plans to eventually site wind farms on the Pacific Coast, in Oregon and Hawaii.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/01/us-government-offshore-wind-farms-atlantic

[allan01]

1. re:US government announces opening of Atlantic coast for offshore wind farms

thanks for sharing . interisting that some stories get all the comments . while i think this one is important. i wonder if ill be the only commenter.
thanks again and thanks 2 the guardian

[groundloop]

4. Non controversial so not many comments

I believe most people here see the need and benefit for increased electrical generation capability from wind, so there's not much to discuss.

I'll add that if Donald Trump has any oceanfront property I hope a windfarm gets planted right in front of him.

[Ash_F]

9. I'm extremely happy to see this...

Although as I was reading the headline, I thought the sentence was going to end like this: "US government announces opening of Atlantic coast for offshore oil platforms"

I was pleasantly surprised.

[kooljerk666]

13. me too, i thoght the exact thing & was pleasantly surprised......

wow............

[hedgehog]

2. About time!

Anyone who thinks wind turbines are ugly should take a look at this!

[SoapBox]

6. Don't forget Keystone...

this on DU:

"Robert Redford and the Keystone pipeline"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101783486

[awoke_in_2003]

3. Kennedy opposed this...

I guess one is a liberal until they somehow feel this would lower their property value.

[newfie11]

5. Good start. Nt

[Posteritatis]

7. Let the NIMBY wars begin! (nt)

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[CindyinIndy]

10. Wonderful News!

Time to stop harming the Earth!

[TwilightGardener]

11. Glad to see this.

[jpak]

12. It's about time - the EU and China are way ahead of us in this dept....

[lunatica]

14. It's a start

[2naSalit]

15. Two words...

Hurricane Sandy.


Instead of covering the ocean floor and the wilder portions of our continent with these highly vulnerable and critical habitat trashing behemoths that require long, vulnerable transmission lines (about as wonderful as pipelines), we should really consider point source generation. You know, if there had been point source power generation in NY and NJ, whole swaths of utility customers would have been spared massive outages that take long periods of time to bring back to service. With point source generation, only locational outages would have been the norm and folks would have been able to stay closer to home in many cases and maybe only would have had to go to the next building instead of miles away.

I see this concept has been mentioned on this blog in the past, but I would advise folks to take another look and think about the benefits and the reduced threats to the environment and major power service areas. This is the kind of infrastructure we should be investing in.

http://www.aerotecture.com/

[mgardener]

16. Wind mills

We had a windmill farm set up in an area not too far from my house. There was a lot of controversy. Noise pollution was a concern and people thought that the views would be ruined
It was a God send to the farmers, money that they so needed.

They are not pretty and I'm sure there are views that will be ruined.

But, I would put up with them for the clean energy that they provide.
We have had occasion to drive past them this past year. We drove past them this week and it dawned on me that I didn't really notice them this time, they are part of the landscape.
They are majestic and pretty in their own way

[jtuck004]

17. Great. First they ship all the damn jobs to China. Now they are attaching propellers

to move the U.S. that way to cut down on shipping costs.

This is out of control.

[Third Doctor]

19. ROTFL!!

[obxhead]

20. DUzy material there

[bananas]

18. Yay! Great news!

[freethought]

21. Alternative energy requires trade offs

One item I have read over and over is that potential for wind energy is indeed huge. But if we want to take advantage of it we have got to think big, it can't be done small scale. Coastal wind farms have to be part of the plan.

I'm from Massachusetts, and I have been following the Cape Wind issue for some time. I'm actually glad it's going forward. I see it as a good thing. I am not overly worried about it's impact. I'm also a recreational angler and the waters of Nantucket Sound and around Martha's Vineyard are among my favorite places to go. I'm more worried about some tanker leaking in those waters than I am of the long term impact of wind turbines in the sound. I would favor some scientific monitoring when everything is up and running but thus far things seem normal.

[otohara]

22. Applause

beats the hell out of off shore drilling.