The following petition was delivered to the staff of Governor Maggie Hassan with approximately 2,000 signatures on August 25, 2016.
A PETITION TO GOVERNOR MAGGIE HASSAN
To Move Forward on Offshore Wind Development
Whereas the Federal Department of Energy has determined that the Gulf of Maine has a total potential wind power capacity in excess of 200,000 Megawatts within 50 miles of the coasts of New Hampshire, Maine and northeast Massachusetts, and utilizing just a small percentage of this potential, combined with other renewable resources, could provide most of the future power needs of these states, and
Whereas floating wind turbine technology has been proven to work off the coasts of Portugal, Japan, Norway and Maine, and several demonstration wind farms are in construction elsewhere, and
Whereas operation of floating wind farms 10 to 50 miles off our coast is expected to have much less impact on our environment and public health than all existing power sources, as well as create less aesthetic concern than terrestrial wind farms, and
Whereas development and operation of offshore wind farms have the potential to create large numbers of jobs and other economic activity within Portsmouth Harbor and other coastal communities,
We, the undersigned, urge Governor Hassan to make a formal request to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to form a Task Force and stakeholder process to plan for regional offshore wind development, and to work with neighboring states’ governors to make this a multi state effort throughout the Gulf of Maine.