Feds reject Maine's offshore wind funding request

(The Center Square) — The Biden administration has rejected Maine's request for federal funding to cover the costs of building a staging area for the state's efforts to develop offshore wind energy.

This week, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that it was giving more than $4.2 billion to a wide range of clean energy and transit projects selected to receive funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. However, Maine’s application for $456 million to defray the state's cost of developing a "wind port" on Sears Island wasn't on the list of grant recipients, according to the DOT.

The federal agency awarded grants to 44 other projects that beat out Maine, including $472.3 million to neighboring Massachusetts to replace a drawbridge that serves the state's commuter rail system.

"With this latest round of awards, dozens of major and much-needed projects – projects that are often difficult to fund through other means – are getting the long-awaited investments they need to move forward," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.

Maine officials emphasized that the federal grants were extremely competitive and said the Mills administration is still fully committed to moving ahead with the offshore wind project. The DOT received nearly 200 applications from states for more than $27 billion in funding, far exceeding the available funding, they noted.

"We believe the result is a reflection of the fiercely competitive nature of this program and that it does not reflect, or undermine, the widely-recognized need for this port, the strong merit of Maine’s plan or the vast economic and environmental benefits associated with port development,” Maine Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note said in a statement.

Maine has set an ambitious goal of reaching 80% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% by 2050, and the Mills administration said wind power will play a large role.

The state is also part of the Power Up New England initiative — a collaboration with Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont and several utilities — which calls for expanding and upgrading interconnection points for undersea cables that will eventually bring power from offshore wind turbines to the regional grid.

Outgoing President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has aggressively pursued plans by the federal government to add at least 35 gigawatts of offshore wind in the U.S. by 2030, beginning with Vineyard Wind off the southern coast of Massachusetts. He argues the plan will boost the nation's clean energy industry and create jobs.

But the push to develop offshore wind comes amid increasing turbulence in the burgeoning industry with developers scaling back — or, in some cases, backing out of projects — citing supply chain disruptions, higher construction costs and a lack of state and federal government tax credits.

The effort also faces opposition from commercial fishermen and coastal conservation groups who argue that towering turbines off the Atlantic coastline will hurt marine life, fishing and tourism industries and the local economy.