Feds finalize areas for floating offshore wind farms along Oregon coast

The federal government has finalized two areas for floating offshore wind farms along the Oregon coast, authorities announced Tuesday, bringing the state closer to commercially developing and producing a renewable energy source that's part of the fight against climate change.

The two zones cover roughly 195,000 acres (78,914 hectares) and are both located in southern Oregon, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said. One area is 32 miles (52 kilometers) off the coast of Coos Bay, and the other is 18 miles (29 kilometers) from the shore of the small city of Brookings, located near the California state line. They have the capacity for producing 2.4 gigawatts of energy, the agency said, enough to power roughly 800,000 homes.

Following the announcement, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said she was committed to developing a transparent roadmap for exploring offshore wind opportunities with the input of coastal and tribal communities.

“Offshore wind is likely to play an important role in meeting our state’s growing energy demand and goal of 100% renewable energy by 2040,” Kotek said in a statement. “It also presents a significant economic development opportunity for the Oregon coast.”

BOEM said it finalized the two areas after consulting with local tribes. But the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians refuted this, saying they were “extremely disappointed” that areas of cultural and historic significance were identified for offshore wind.

“BOEM’s press release states that it has ‘engaged’ with the Tribe, but that engagement has amounted to listening to the Tribe’s concerns and ignoring them and providing promises that they may be dealt with at some later stage of the process,” Tribal Council Chair Brad