Wind power: Obama's promises just hot air so far

President Barack Obama is still at least a year away from seeing wind turbines take root anywhere off the U.S. coast, even though his administration has promised to make offshore wind a priority, and even though developers are lining up to string wind farms up and down the Atlantic seaboard.

The administration, delayed by controversy and red tape, has made “clean energy” one of its top policy pushes but has yet to grant a single permit for wind or solar development on public land, onshore or off. Administration officials say the first solar permits won’t come until at least next year, and that the first offshore wind farm is also likely a year or two away.

Officials say they’ve moved quickly to clear the “regulatory underbrush” untended by a Bush team that made little effort to develop wind and solar energy on public land, and that their efforts have sparked a “flurry of activity” among developers.

“We’re cooking, and we’re excited about it,” said David Hayes, the deputy interior secretary. “We are going to see this commercial development occurring, both offshore and solar.”

The project proposed for Nantucket Sound, where the president vacationed last month, is a case in point.

Chicago Tribune