Interest to build offshore wind energy projects in the Gulf of Mexico is heating up, as the U.S. Interior Dept. extends until Sept. 2 its request for comments on a draft environmental review of proposed development in nearly 700,000 acres off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. The agency could hold an auction for the first leases as early as next year.
The agency review anticipates issuing up to 18 leases with six to eight for each lease sale. It proposed in July to reduce the originally estimated 30-million-acre Gulf lease area to two sites to avoid conflicts with fishing, navigation and wildlife and resources. These would include about 500,000 acres 24 miles from Galveston, Texas and 188,000 acres about 56 miles from Lake Charles, La.