Now that the Biden administration and allies in Congress have secured the largest, most important climate bill in generations — the Inflation Reduction Act, signed this summer — the race is on to rapidly expand clean energy, include offshore wind power. But as the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee recognized in a little-known bill voted out last month, we need to move with the same speed and determination to make good on the promise that big public and private investments will benefit communities and workers who need it most.
To help meet national climate goals (specifically, the administration’s pledge to create 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030), the Department of the Interior is now auctioning wind farm leases in coastal waters around the country. The first-ever auction for Pacific coastal waters opened Tuesday, for example. The rules set now…