Obama calls for compromise, touts clean energy as way to boost economy

In his first White House speech since winning re-election, President Obama on Friday called on Congress to get to work on addressing the looming fiscal cliff and took some time to praise clean energy development as an important tool for growing the economy. [ read more … ]

GOP senators accuse Interior of playing favorites in offshore wind deal

Two GOP senators are accusing the Interior Department of playing favorites by offering Atlantic waters for wind farms but not oil and gas development. At issue is a lease for developing commercial wind power in federal waters off the Delaware coast. The area in question is off limits to oil-and-gas drillers in President Obama’s five-year offshore drilling plan. [ read more … ]

Senators Vitter, Alexander seek revenue analysis of Del. lease

Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today asked the Interior Department to estimate the fiscal trade-offs of leasing waters off the Delaware coast for wind power instead of oil and gas development.

In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the senators also asked what the agency plans to charge NRG Bluewater Wind Delaware LLC for generating electricity on a lease it announced late last month [ read more … ]

Cape Wind Offshore Project Discussed With Rhode Island Port Officials

Officials with the Cape Wind offshore wind project planned for Massachusetts have met with port officials in Rhode Island, and a project spokesman told The Associated Press on Friday that it’s an “open question” whether a terminal planned for New Bedford will be ready to use as the wind farm’s construction staging area. The project is expected to bring hundreds of jobs to an area that desperately needs them. Rhode Island has the second-highest unemployment rate in the country and New Bedford, just over the Rhode Island border, is in one of the most economically depressed areas of Massachusetts. [ read more … ]