US Interior secretary touts Humboldt County offshore wind project

“Offshore wind is critical,” she said. ” … I’m so pleased to be here today to witness the incredible progress California is making in advancing offshore wind and helping create a clean future for this state and for our entire country.”

The proposed offshore wind energy project, to be located approximately 21 miles west of Eureka, is part of the Biden administration’s plan to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030.

“It could also trigger more than $12 billion per year in capital investments in projects on both coasts, generate enough power for 10 million American homes a year and avoid 78 million metric tons of CO2 emissions,” Haaland added.

Douglas praised the Biden administration for choosing to promote wind power in California “to build a clean energy future.”

“Offshore wind has tremendous potential for clean energy in California and it’s got tremendous benefits to the state. This region has the best offshore wind potential, really in the country in terms of the quality of the resource,” she said. “It is very complementary of solar, which we have in abundance in California because the wind picks up in the late afternoon and evening when the sun goes down when all of us are going into our houses and turning on our appliances, charging our cell phones and charging our electric cars.”

Offshore wind power projects, such as the proposed project locally, would not only propel the United States forward to a clean energy future but would also create an estimated 80,000 jobs nationwide, Mallory said.

“It’s not just that we’re addressing the environmental issues, we are also addressing the realities that people are dealing with and it will create an opportunity for more jobs,” she said. “Jobs will include installing wind turbines and solar panels, but when we talk about jobs it doesn’t stop there. It also includes insulators and glaziers and electricians and auto mechanics.”

The Bureau of Ocean Energy is currently collecting public comments on the proposed project to inform the development of an Environmental Assessment. During the ongoing 45-day public comment period, the agency will host two virtual scoping meetings to outline its formal environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act. The public comment period ends Sept. 13, 2021.

“We are stepping up to this climate crisis and showing what needs to be done to seize the opportunity in the climate crisis and that brings us again here to Humboldt Bay because all of the ingredients for success are right here,” Huffman said. “My administration was right to designate this as one of the priority areas for meeting our very lofty offshore wind development goals because those ingredients start with the wind that we feel right now in our back.”

More information on the proposed project can be found at tinyurl.com/humboldt-wind-energy.