Well, I was at first disappointed by the news I awoke to yesterday regarding to the potential (it still can be taken off the planning board) leasing of the offshore land in the Atlantic for oil drilling. My first thoughts were "damn, there go the Outer Banks, and all their natural beauty and tourism should a spill occur. This story broke yesterday, and today, I am surprised to read in my daily "news dump" from a varied number of sources (I am a news junky covering A - Z in topic and subject)a story that had been published on the 25th from "Clean Technica":
the #1 cleantech-focused website in the US and the world according to Compete.com and Quantcast.com.Yes as mentioned I did read the date of this published story as I was wondering about the date/timing sequence of this story and of the one about the drilling leases yesterday. Interesting how one made it's way to the MSM, and the other, well, not so much, but that's another story for another time. It's good to cast a wide net as one never knows what fish they will catch out there as the expression goes... Or something like that, But I digress..
What I found interesting outside of the different dates of publishing were that this action of setting aside of the land leases wasn't done by our NC Tar Heel Teabilly Taliban legislature or Governorr in Raleigh, but outside of their control by the Federal government:
North Carolina is forging ahead with plans to hop on the East Coast offshore wind energy bandwagon — not that the state’s lawmakers have any choice in the matter. The Interior Department has been leasing large swaths of federal waters for offshore wind development, and North Carolina just happens to be one in a series.See Map below as to is scope, potential energy production, and size:
What is interesting as I started to write was that this project and it's plans had been quietly going on in the background of the public and now we come to find that it was part of a program that President Obama had started called "Smart From The Start" initiative:
The North Carolina lease is part of the Obama Administration’s Smart from the Start offshore wind energy initiative, which aims at coordinating and streamlining development of designated Wind Energy Areas (WEAs).President Obama 1, Tea Bag/Republicans in Raleigh, 0.We took note last year when the leasing process began, partly because it enabled the Administration to prod offshore wind development forward even in states that have not been particularly friendly to wind.
Many of us that follow and are advocates of alternative power not just on the small scale, but for also on the very large scale always knew that the potential for this type of power generation capability was always there offshore of not only NC, but also off the shoreline of South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia, which:
The four coastal states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia have 82 percent of the total Atlantic coast wind potential in shallow water (defined as being at least 12 miles offshore, so not too shallow). These four states also have some of the lowest construction costs for offshore wind turbines all along the eastern seaboard, and they’re among the largest and fastest-growing electricity markets.The WEAs for North Carolina were designated last summer pending a final environmental assessment. For those of you keeping score at home, the total comes to more than 300,000 acres divided among three parcels: Kitty Hawk (122,405 acres), Wilmington West (51,595 acres), and Wilmington East (about 133,590 acres).
For the Atlantic Coast as a whole, we’re talking about an estimated 1,000 gigawatts in potential offshore wind energy. To give you an idea what that means for the US energy supply, that’s just about equal to the total installed capacity in the entire country. Somewhat ironically given the connectivity between its elected officials and the fossil energy lobby, North Carolina is now part and parcel of the East Coast wind energy juggernaut.
Wow.... Just wow... That's a lot of potential for serious energy production if it can be harnessed, and distributed to the end users in a cost effective and technically feasible format. How would this affect that 900 lb gorilla called Duke Energy walking the halls of the Governor's mansion?? I am sure he is fuming that his little Duke Energy Empire is starting to show some wear from an outside "higher authority". One can only hope that it causes a great deal of irritation.
So I go back to the question of timing: When did all occur? The latest and most recent development of finalizing this project/proposal occurred last week, when Interior announced the completion of its environmental assessment.
So which will win? The Big Oil group, or the Alternative Energy Group, or both?? Actually, the winners will be the citizens of North Carolina that will be leading the way in offshore sustainable wind power power generation and development (hopefully). Oh, and I'll take the very quiet news story from 1/25, over the MSM's news of 1/27, seven days a week....
Credit for all information and maps: "Clean Technica", January 25th, 2015 by Tina Casey
http://cleantechnica.com/...
And remember, let's be safe out there.