According to Fosters.com, the town of Durham wants Governor Chris Sununu, R-N.H., to request that the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management create a task force to determine the feasibility of offshore wind development, specifically on the Gulf of Maine. The resolution was passed by a vote of 7 to 1 Monday night.
“The benefits would be potentially federal grants to researchers (at UNH), investments in the local offshore region by wind energy companies and opportunities in the port of Portsmouth,” said Mary Downes, who sits on Durham’s Energy Committee.
With the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, Durham, along with other communities across the nation are taking action on climate change at the local level. Their resolution “endorses the formation of a multi-state task force to explore the potential for offshore wind development along the Maine and New Hampshire coastline.”
North American Wind Power noted the resolution has already garnered the support of a 350.org affiliate, the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League, as well as three local energy commissions.
“In spite of the change we’ve seen at the federal level, there is a lot we can do at the state and federal level [on climate change], and this is one concrete action we can do,” Doug Bogen from the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League said at the Monday night meeting.
In a 2010 federal Department of Energy report, it was determined that the waters off New Hampshire’s coastline had the potential to generate up to 2,600 mW of electricity, which would be more than enough to power the entire state.
