Author Topic: Texas Lawmaker Opposes Biden’s 500,000-Acre Galveston Wind Farm  (Read 285 times)

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Texas Lawmaker Opposes Biden’s 500,000-Acre Galveston Wind Farm
« on: September 19, 2022, 11:56:01 am »
Texas Scorecard by Katy Drollinger September 16, 2022

“This proposed project is just doing more of what has failed us.”

In response to the Biden administration’s plan to build a 546,645-acre wind farm off the Galveston coast, State Rep. Mayes Middleton (R–Galveston) sent a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) warning of potential negative impacts for Texans.

Earlier this year, President Joe Biden designated the massive acreage as a “Wind Energy Area” and directed federal officials to lease the area to a wind energy company. BOEM, a Department of the Interior offshoot, claims the project will produce enough energy to power 2.3 million homes.

The plan also includes a 188,023-acre wind farm 56 miles off the shore of Lake Charles, Louisiana. Both are part of President Joe Biden’s recent push to shift U.S. energy reliance away from oil and natural gas. Last year, Biden set a goal to produce 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, which the administration claims could power 10 million homes––a mere 7 percent of U.S. households.

Middleton accused BOEM of violating federal law by not preparing an environmental impact statement to inform residents of how the development would affect other operations near the Galveston coast, including commercial fishing. The lawmaker expressed concern for the region’s economic interests, explaining how the wind farm will interfere with offshore shipping lanes and cost the Port of Houston $802 billion annually.

“Yet BOEM has approved offshore wind leases despite knowing full well that their actions would cause the abandonment of the entire lease area by commercial fishermen ‘due to difficulties with navigation,’” said Middleton. “If BOEM leased portions of the Gulf’s Outer Continental Shelf for offshore wind projects despite knowing the project would undoubtedly interfere with the use of the lease area as a fishery, not only would this violate OCSLA, but it would severely harm America’s food supply and decrease shoreside businesses’ profits, and make us more reliant on imported seafood from Asia.”

More: https://texasscorecard.com/state/texas-lawmaker-opposes-bidens-500000-acre-galveston-wind-farm/