In a move to help develop wind power as a sustainable energy source, the Biden Administration has designated an offshore area from New York’s Long Island to the New Jersey coast a “priority wind zone,” allowing wind turbines to be constructed there, the New York Times reports.
The construction in the area, known as the New York Bight, will be part of the $3 trillion economic recovery plan and will help strengthen the nation’s power grid, weenning a key economic region off fossil fuels. The administration also announced $3 billion in loan guarantees to boost wind power.
The Biden Administration also will announce a goal of having 30,000 megawatts of electricity generated by offshore wind turbines in the United States by 2030, a process it says will create 75,000 jobs. It will come as part of a plan to strengthen US port developments and improvements and waterway travel.
“We have an enormous opportunity in front of us to not only address the threats of climate change, but use it as a chance to create millions of good-paying, union jobs,” Gina McCarthy, the White House national climate adviser, said in a statement.
The New York Bight offshore wind project will eliminate 78 million tons in fossil fuel emissions and create 44,000 jobs in the wind energy sector through the construction and integration of the turbines, and another 33,000 indirect jobs.
The Biden Interior Department estimates that 2,000 wind turbines could be operating of the entire Atlantic coast by 2030.