Page 25: of Marine News Magazine (April 2021)

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tol, at deployments offshore and within individual states.

On Capitol Hill, consider the Vineyard Wind project set to produce 800 megawatts (MW) in its ? rst phase de- ploying 84 turbines, a joint venture between a wind-solar unit in Avangrid (a NYSE-listed producer of energy), and

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (an investment fund manager specializing in renewable energy). The installa- tion, off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., was set to be the ? rst major offshore wind farm in the U.S., selling electricity to a group of Massachusetts utility with a 2023 start date. The project was slowed down in early 2020 after offshore ? shermen raised concerns about its layout inter- fering with their routes, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy

Management (BOEM), the regulator of offshore energy deployments, delayed its permitting process. Late 2020 saw further delays, as Vineyard Wind sought to halt its permitting process (while reorganizing its footprint with larger turbines, only 62 required in Phase 1), and was greeted with an uncooperative BOEM.

What a difference a fortnight makes. Amid a ? urry of

Executive Orders from the new Biden Administration, off- shore wind was mentioned. A White House summary of ac- tion from late January, says, “The order directs the Secretary of the Interior to pause on entering into new oil and natural

Dominion Energy gas leases on public lands or offshore waters to the extent possible, launch a rigorous review of all existing leasing and permitting practices related to fossil fuel development of electricity from offshore wind by 2030. on public lands and waters, and identify steps that can be The U.S. maritime industry is set to mobilize for the wide- taken to double renewable energy production from offshore ly anticipated boom. Michael G. Roberts, senior vice presi- wind by 2030.” In early February, two weeks after President dent at Jacksonville, Fla.-based Crowley Maritime, testify-

Biden’s inauguration, with a new director at the helm of ing at the U.S. House of Representatives’ Coast Guard and

BOEM (part of the Department of the Interior), the agency Maritime Subcommittee’s mid -February, 2021 hearings on announced that Vineyard Wind’s application was back in behalf of the American Maritime Partnership (AMP), where the review process. The new Director, Amanda Lefton, who he serves as president, described “as what may be a genera- comes from a top energy job in New York State’s executive tional opportunity…” for the U.S. maritime industry.

branch, said, in a statement, “BOEM is committed to con- Language in the National Defense Authorization Act ducting a robust and timely review of the proposed project.” (NDAA) for ? scal 2021, passed at the end of 2020, clari-

On the legislative front, there were rumblings that The ? ed that the Jones Act, an integral feature of the offshore oil

Ocean-based Climate Solutions Act (HR 8632. 116th patch in the Gulf of Mexico, would be applied analogously

Congress), a bill that failed to gain traction after its intro- to offshore wind. The New Orleans-based Offshore Marine duction just prior to the 2020 elections, could be reintro- Service Association (OMSA), representing 170 companies, duced in the House of Representatives in 2021. The bill’s plays a critical role behind the scenes around Capitol Hill. wording included a nonbinding “Sense of Congress” reso- Following the passage of the NDAA, OMSA’s president, lution pointing toward deployment of 30 gigawatts (GW) Aaron Smith, said, “We are immensely grateful that Con- www.marinelink.com MN 25|