Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia are working together and with the federal government to explore, encourage, and manage anticipated offshore wind development in the region. The states seek to ensure that such development is consistent with their other goals and objectives for their highly productive, resource rich, and publicly valuable coastal zones.
As part of this process, MARCO has released A Guide to State Management of Offshore Wind Energy in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Produced in coordination with the Environmental Law Institute, the guide summarizes key information about the efforts of the Mid-Atlantic states to support the sustainable development of offshore wind energy. The report provides an overview of the states’ key legal authority, the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, and state priorities in offshore wind energy project review, including the categories of information needed to satisfy the various review processes.
The report is intended to provide a clearer understanding of the potential of offshore wind in the Mid-Atlantic region, the basic framework that governs the state role in development of that resource, some of the states’ priorities that guide that framework, and how interested parties might approach working within it.