Beth Kemler, Virginia State Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, released the following statement in response to today’s announcement from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) that it is moving forward with an offshore wind energy auction off the coast of Virginia on September 4th.

“Every time we move a little closer to seeing powerful wind turbines generating energy off our coast, it’s cause for celebration. At the same time, we have lingering concerns that auctioning the area as one big block will reduce competition and enable the winning company to drag its feet. Dominion Power, which has an abysmal record of bringing new clean energy online in Virginia, was the main proponent of auctioning the lease area to just one developer, and a number of environmental groups warned BOEM against that proposal.

“We’re troubled by the possibility of Dominion winning the auction for the entire wind energy area, given the lackadaisical timetable for offshore wind development that company officials have expressed in the past. We don’t want the company to buy up the whole lease block and then sit on it for years and years.

“Climate change is here now. It’s flooding the streets of Norfolk through sea-level rise and it’s raising the death toll of summer heat. We need companies to develop large-scale clean energy projects as quickly as possible.”

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