January, 12 2022, 04:41pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Doug O’Malley, Director, Environment New Jersey Research & Policy Center, domalley@environmentnewjersey.
Hannah Read, Environment America Research & Policy Center Federal Clean Energy Advocate, hread@environmentamerica.org
Josh Chetwynd, Deputy Director, Media Relations, jchetwynd@
Biden Administration Goes Big on Offshore Wind With NY Bight Lease Auction
Action will open up 480,000 acres off Sandy Hook & Jersey Shore coastlines to offshore wind.
WASHINGTON
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced Wednesday that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold a wind energy auction on Feb. 23 for more than 480,000 acres in the New York Bight. This will be the first offshore wind energy auction under the Biden administration.
The auction will allow offshore wind developers to bid on six lease areas - the most areas ever offered in a single auction, according to BOEM's Final Sale Notice. Leases offered in this sale, which are located off the Jersey Shore, ranging from off Sandy Hook to Long Beach Island and could be as far out on the Outer Continental Shelf as 70 miles off the coastline, could result in 5.6 to 7 gigawatts of offshore wind energy. That would be enough energy to power more than 2 million homes. As offshore wind technology continues to advance, these areas will create the potential for clean renewable offshore wind power close to the energy demands of the greater New Jersey region.
Secretary Haaland was joined by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in outlining their shared vision for developing a robust offshore wind domestic supply chain that will deliver benefits to residents, including underserved communities, in New Jersey, New York and the surrounding region.
Environment New Jersey Research & Policy Center is Environment America Research & Policy Center's state partner in the Garden State.
Environment New Jersey Research & Policy Center Director Doug O'Malley issued the following statement on the announcement:
"New Jersey has long led the nation on offshore wind initiatives and is now poised to expand its role. The potential this clean energy goldmine off the Jersey Shore provides could be a game changer. Unlocking this swath of area in the New York Bight is pivotal to not only reaching Gov. Murphy's goal of 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035 but also going beyond that. We have more than enough wind blowing off the Jersey Shore to meet our current and future electricity needs, and we should be thinking big on how to power our state with clean energy to meet the 50% renewable energy by 2030 mandate.
"Clean renewable energy is the solution our state and country desperately needs. As extreme weather events become more common and our coastline becomes ever more vulnerable, it's clear the time is now to turn away from fossil fuels and toward the promise of offshore wind. With the potential to power 2.6 million homes here in the Garden State, these lease areas stand to revolutionize how New Jerseyans get their power. This collaboration aims to serve as a model for future engagement and continues to cement the reality that the United States - and New Jersey - needs to lead on offshore wind to mitigate climate change's impacts. We urge the Murphy administration to build on this collaboration and continue its leadership making New Jersey the national leader on offshore wind."
Hannah Read, Environment America Research & Policy Center's federal clean energy advocate issued the following response:
"The U.S. coastlines are chock-full of clean renewable offshore wind just waiting to be harnessed, and with each new project or lease, America is one step closer to realizing the benefits of using it to power our lives. With offshore wind alone, the Atlantic region could produce almost four times as much electricity as that part of the country used in 2019. This enormously abundant resource will be a difference-maker for our energy system, fostering resiliency and a healthier future for generations to come. Holding these leases is a crucial progression towards accomplishing the Biden administration's national goal to reach 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, and it's exciting to see the pieces start falling into place."
With Environment America, you protect the places that all of us love and promote core environmental values, such as clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and clean energy to power our lives. We're a national network of 29 state environmental groups with members and supporters in every state. Together, we focus on timely, targeted action that wins tangible improvements in the quality of our environment and our lives.
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Privacy Defenders Decry 'Spy Draft' in Section 702 Renewal Advanced by Senate
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Apr 18, 2024
Civil liberties defenders on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advancement of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which critics say lawmakers are trying to ram through without protection against warrantless surveillance and with a provision that would effectively make every American a spy whether they like it or not.
Senators voted 67-32 in favor of a cloture motion to begin voting on RISAA, a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires on Friday. FISA—a highly controversial law that has been abused hundreds of thousands of times—allows warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens but also often sweeps up Americans' communication data in the process.
In a 273-147 vote last week, House lawmakers passed RISAA, including an amendment critics say dramatically expands the government's unchecked surveillance authority by compelling a wide range of individuals and organizations—including businesses and the media—to cooperate in government spying operations.
This so-called "Make Everyone a Spy" clause would allow the attorney general or director of national intelligence to force electronic communication service providers to "immediately provide... all information, facilities, or assistance" the government deems necessary.
"This bill would basically allow the government to institute a spy draft," Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, warned Thursday. "It will lead to significant distrust between journalists and sources, not to mention everyone else."
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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)—who
said earlier this week that the bill would dragoon the American people into becoming "an agent for Big Brother"—on Thursday argued that "this issue demands a debate about meaningful reforms, not a rushed vote to rubber-stamp more warrantless government surveillance powers."
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The Biden administration and U.S. intelligence agencies vehemently oppose the Durbin-Cramer amendment. The White House called the measure "a reckless policy choice contrary to the key lessons of 9/11 and not grounded in any constitutional requirement or statute."
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Since Israel launched what the International Court of Justice has said is a "plausibly" genocidal assault of the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas-led October attack, the Biden administration has blocked three cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council. Under mounting global pressure, the U.S. finally abstained last month, allowing a cease-fire measure to pass.
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The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
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"Correct," replied Shafik.
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