Interior Sec. Salazar Promises Faster Approval of Offshore Wind Power Projects

Posted by Jared Killeen on October 22, 2009 at 9:03 am

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (center, at podium) announced the granting of leases for wind power development off the coast of New Jersey on June 23 of this year in Atlantic City. NJ governor John Corzine stands to Salazar's left. (image: John Corzine via flickr.com)

Last week, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that the Obama administration has begun taking steps to hasten progress toward alternative energy production, the Associated Press reported on Friday.

Salazar addressed the Business Council, a group of 150 chief executive officers gathered in North Carolina; the council was formed during the Great Depression to advise the federal government on financial matters. During his address, Salazar assured those in attendance that the government had started clearing away red tape that had hitherto hindered offshore efforts, and that exploratory leases for renewable wind energy production have been awarded to New Jersey and Delaware.

For some time now Salazar has promoted offshore wind energy as an important part of the administration’s energy program. According to him, “US offshore areas hold enormous potential for wind energy development in all coastal metropolitan centers, and the wind potential off the coasts of the lower 48 states could exceed electricity demand in the U.S.” In April, Salazar spoke at a summit meeting, saying that “The idea that wind energy has the potential to replace most of our coal-burning power today is a very real possibility. It is not technology that is pie-in-the-sky; it is here and now.”

As you might expect, such pronouncements have not always been met with enthusiasm from those with ties to the coal industry. After his address at the summit in April, Salazar was criticized by Dave Freudenthal, governor of Wyoming, the nation’s leading coal-producing state. In response to Salazar’s claim that wind energy will someday replace coal, Freudenthal impishly cracked, “Ain’t going to happen.” He then stated that Salazar’s comments were “a dumb thing to say,” averring that the “potential” of which Salazar spoke “is never going to be realized.”

Yet some progress has in fact been made. As HeatingOil.com reported last week, the Danish island of Samso recently achieved energy self-sufficiency, largely because of its sophisticated offshore wind energy facility. Earlier this month, we reported that EON Climate and Renewables completed the world’s largest wind farm in Texas; the farm’s 627 wind turbines, which cover 100,000 acres of West Texas farmland, can generate enough energy to power 230,000 homes.