Maritime sector welcomes Biden wind leasing as new energy era in the Gulf of Mexico

Jeremy Beaman

February 27, 04:00 AM February 27, 04:01 AM

Business interests on the Gulf Coast are hopeful the start of federal offshore wind leasing activities there can further strengthen the region's footprint as a critical energy producer.

The Biden administration just proposed the first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. It was welcome news for the offshore energy lobby and local service sector, which hope to cash in on the administration's push to develop more wind energy projects in the Outer Continental Shelf.

"Through offshore wind, along with regular and predictable offshore oil and gas leasing, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico can expand its remarkable and irreplaceable energy portfolio," said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association. "The energy, jobs, and investment opportunities from Gulf of Mexico offshore wind will be additive to the incredible benefits the offshore oil and gas sector provides our nation."

INTERIOR ADVANCES MASSACHUSETTS OFFSHORE WIND PROJECT THAT COULD POWER 800,000 HOMES

The Gulf has long been a contributor to U.S. oil and gas production. Output has varied in recent years, but Gulf operators produced an average of 1.8 million barrels of oil per day in November, the latest month for which data are available. That's equivalent to roughly 15% of total current U.S. production, which is averaging about 12.3 million barrels per day.

Chett Chiasson, executive director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission in Louisiana, said the region is prepared to expand into wind.

Chiasson and GLPC manage Port Fourchon, which announced an agreement in early February with marine service company Crowley potentially to lease and develop an offshore wind terminal at the port.

"Hopefully, before the end of the year, [the agreement] will turn into a full-fledged lease for the first purpose-built offshore wind service facility in the Gulf of Mexico," Chiasson told the Washington Examiner.

President Joe Biden set a goal of enabling the construction of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. The Gulf sale would be the fourth offshore wind lease sale to be held during his tenure.

The vast majority of acreage leased for wind development to date is located in the Atlantic Ocean, where two commercial-scale wind projects are expected to begin generating electricity this year.

Significant storms threaten large swaths of northern and jap US

Brady Knox

July 07, 11:48 AM July 07, 11:56 AM

Severe climate will deal with large swaths of the northern and jap United States in excess of the weekend, bringing thunderstorms, dangerously substantial winds, warmth waves, significant hail, flash flooding, and far more, according to temperature experiences.

However the central U.S. is likely to deal with the worst of the storms, multicell and pulse storms will look in an place extending from the Ohio Valley to the Carolinas, which could carry harmful winds, the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center mentioned.

LIGHTNING STRIKE IN CALIFORNIA KILLS Girl AND TWO Canines

Windstorms in the latest times resulted in a derecho that extended hundreds of miles across the central U.S., making inexperienced skies in components of South Dakota as a result of light-weight refraction within just the storms.

A significant dome of substantial stress is resulting in a warmth wave in the Southeast, and thunderstorms are expected together the periphery of the dome, Fox Temperature reported.

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Friday is feared to convey hail and flash floods to the central and southeastern U.S., while severe storms are predicted to be minimal to the central and northern states on Saturday and Sunday.