Republican lawmakers are calling on U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to revoke all remaining Gulf of Maine offshore wind leases.
In a letter, sent Tuesday, a group of Maine lawmakers urge Washington to revoke four leases awarded last year, to cancel a scheduled bottom-trawl survey, and to terminate the lease for the Maine Research Array, which the University of Maine has been developing for over a decade. The Trump administration already ordered UMaine to halt work on the project back in April.
The letter also calls for a comprehensive review of all existing national offshore wind policies.
Maine State Representative Reagan Paul of Winterport praised the Trump administration’s termination of nearly $700 million in funding for offshore wind last month; calling floating offshore wind “too experimental, too costly, and too disruptive for the people of Maine to bear.”
The letter authors cite high electricity prices and protection of fishing industry jobs as the reasons to end offshore wind projects. Maine has some of the highest electricity prices in the nation.
The governor's energy office has said Maine's high rates are tied to the grid's reliance on natural gas. Natural gas prices can fluctuate based on national and international events that affect supply, like the war in Ukraine.
Green energy advocates argue that developing local sources of alternative energy will stabilize prices.
Initial studies from existing offshore wind arrays in the U.K. have shown that the technology does not negatively impact fish or lobster populations, and in some cases, can benefit them by creating an artificial reef-like surface.
The offshore wind development leases, issued last year, are located outside of Lobster Management Area One, in order to avoid an area critical to the fishing industry.