Offshore Wind Companies Want to Delay Leasing off New Jersey

New Jersey Governor  Chris Christie and legislative leaders were warned to delay leasing offshore wind tracts along the Jersey coast, writes the New Jersey  Spotlight.

Namely, top companies from this industry, including Deepwater Wind and Offshore MW,  wrote a letter saying that the state  could ” lose the opportunity of offshore wind entirely, should the winners of the Bureau of Ocean Management (an agency located within the U.S. Department of Interior) auction be unable to construct their projects, as could be the case if the winning bidders are found to be ineligible under the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act.’’ Until now, the companies were urging the Government to speed up the offshore wind development, but the state agency hasn’t adopted a funding mechanism.

Besides delaying the leasing process, companies urge administration and legislature to force New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to adopt the necessary regulation to accelerate the development of offshore wind.

Otherwise, the state is risking the potential benefits of the budding industry along with its role as a decision maker in the leasing process.

Offshore WIND staff, January 27, 2014; Image: flickr