Biden Boosts Offshore Wind Energy, Wants to Power 10 Million Homes

WASHINGTON - The Biden administration is moving to sharply increase offshore wind energy along the East Coast, saying Monday it is taking initial steps toward approving a huge wind farm off the New Jersey coast as part of an effort to generate electricity for more than 10 million homes nationwide by 2030. 

Meeting the target could mean jobs for more than 44,000 workers and for 33,000 others in related employment, the White House said. The effort also would help avoid 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, a key step in the administration's fight to slow global warming.  President Joe Biden "believes we have an enormous opportunity in front of us to not only address the threats of climate change but use it as a chance to create millions of good-paying, union jobs that will fuel America's economic recovery,'' White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy said. "Nowhere is the scale of that opportunity clearer than for offshore wind.''  The administration's commitment to the still untapped industry "will create pathways to the middle class for people from all backgrounds and communities," she added. "We are ready to rock and roll."