Bordallo offshore wind measure passes congressional committee
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The House Committee on Natural Resources unanimously passed yesterday Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo’s bill to authorize offshore wind energy development in the all five U.S. territories.
The Natural Resources Committee unanimously reported H.R.6665, or the “Offshore Wind for Territories Act,” to the full House of Representatives for consideration.
The bill is supported by all five members of Congress representing U.S. territories—Reps. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR), Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-AS), Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP), Stacey E. Plaskett (D-VI)—and Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) from Florida.
During a June 26 Subcommittee hearing, representatives of the offshore wind industry and the U.S. Department of the Interior testified in support of Bordallo’s bill.
Current federal law (Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act) precludes the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management from allowing offshore wind farms in federal waters off the coasts of American Samoa, Guam the Northern Mariana Island, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. (PR)