Thursday, May 24, 2012
By JAY LINDSAY The Associated Press
BOSTON - Federal regulators Friday said they're seeking offshore wind developers who want to build inside a newly redrawn zone of ocean off Massachusetts, which they pitched as a prime spot for wind farms.
Regulators had originally proposed opening up a larger area south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. But after objections, including from commercial fishermen whose businesses would be affected by fields of turbines, they cut the area by more than half, to about 850,000 acres.
On Friday, they announced the redrawn boundaries in a press event inside a massive wind turbine test facility in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood.
Offshore wind is stalled in the United States, which doesn't yet produce a watt of energy from it. But the hope Friday was the new wind energy zone off Massachusetts can be a catalyst for the local industry.
"We know the offshore revolution for wind is going to begin right here," said Barbara Kates-Garnick, the state's Energy Undersecretary.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is beginning an environmental review of the area, similar to one just completed in the mid-Atlantic states.
It hopes that by next year, it can award interested developers exclusive rights to build inside different areas of the zone. That can help projects attract financing and ultimately speed up growth of a new offshore industry.
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