Delays in Offshore Wind Development Feared Due to Shutdown (1)

The offshore wind industry is beginning to fear that the government shutdown could delay and complicate offshore wind farm development off Martha’s Vineyard and elsewhere in the Northeast, where construction depends on tight Interior Department approval schedules.

As the partial shutdown involving about one-quarter of the government drags into its fourth week, the Interior Department agency that oversees offshore wind leasing and permitting, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, is closed.

“There are a number of big, important offshore wind projects moving through the BOEM approval process, and we can’t afford to have them disrupted in terms of their coordination ...