Today the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced it will hold a competitive lease sale on Sept. 4, 2013 in which it will auction off approximately 112,799 acres offshore Virginia for commercial wind energy development.
In response Glen Besa, Director of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, issued the following statement:
“After years of intensive problem-solving attention by all stakeholders involved, to include military, shipping, government and environmental interests, we are finally arriving close to the point in the Federal process where we pass the baton of our work to Virginia’s actual developers of its offshore wind resources”.
“While we applaud the diligence of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to fast-track the lease sale process, we also urge their continued dedication to moving offshore wind development along. The eventual winning bidder, likely Dominion Virginia Power, should be required to move forward with offshore wind development without delay and be prohibited from dragging its feet in fully developing Virginia’s entire lease area”.
“Virginian’s are already suffering the impacts of climate disruption from increased flooding on our coasts to heat waves and super storms. We’re ready to build a cleaner, safer and more reliable renewable energy economy here. We must move as quickly as possible to catch up to other states who are ready to start installing full-scale offshore wind farms along the Northeast coast in the next few years.”
Click here for release from BOEM.
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