NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Biden administration is preparing to announce plans for a new five-year schedule for leasing federal offshore land for wind energy production, with up to a dozen lease sales expected starting this year and continuing through 2028 .
The plan would be announced Wednesday in New Orleans by the Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. Three of the anticipated sales would be for Gulf of Mexico areas to be offered this year, in 2025 and in 2027. The Mid-Atlantic area leases would be sold in 2024 and 2026.
Other anticipated sales areas include the Gulf of Maine (2024 and 2028); Oregon Waters (2024); an area of the Atlantic known as New York Bight (2027); and California, Hawaii and an as-yet-unspecified U.S. territory (2028).
Sales will be coordinated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
“As we look to the future, this new leasing schedule will support the types of renewable energy projects needed to reduce consumer costs, combat climate change, create jobs to support families and ensure economic opportunities are accessible to all communities,” Haaland said in a press release ahead of comments at a conference in New Orleans.
