Biden administration announces plans for up to 12 lease sales for offshore wind energy

NEW ORLEANS (AP) —

A new five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production was announced Wednesday by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, with up to a dozen lease sales anticipated beginning this year and continuing through 2028.

Haaland announced the plan at a conference in New Orleans.

Under the plan outlined Wednesday, which includes some previously announced lease auctions, three of the anticipated sales would be for Gulf of Mexico tracts to be offered this year, in 2025 and in 2027. Central Atlantic area leases would be sold in 2024 and 2026.

Other anticipated sale areas include the Gulf of Maine (2024 and 2028); Oregon waters (2024); an area of the Atlantic known as New York Bight (2027); and California, Hawaii, and an as-yet unspecified U.S. territory (2028).

The sales will be coordinated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Since the start of President Joe Biden’s administration, the Interior Department has approved the nation’s first eight large offshore wind projects and held four offshore wind auctions, including first-ever sales in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Transgender Louisianans lost their ally in the governor’s seat. Now they’re girding for a fight </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> PGA Tour has a team event in New Orleans. LIV Golf returns Down Under </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Butler, Williamson injuries are part