PORTLAND, Maine — Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced a timeline for the development of offshore wind power in the Gulf of Maine on Thursday in front of a virtual crowd of stakeholders throughout the nation.
Mills' announcement is more than 100 pages of details. The administration notably said it would be transparent with the groups impacted by construction, such as fishermen.
"Years from now, when Maine people wake up to another snowfall ... I want them to have the benefit of inexpensive, clean power," Mills said during the meeting.
Mills said the increase of price in heating oil adds urgency to making sure another alternative of energy is available.
"They're reaching deeper and deeper in their pockets to pay for energy," she said.
The topic of offshore wind is largely met by opposition among the lobster industry. Mills' administration includes representatives from the Maine Lobstering Union and the Maine Lobstermen's Association, along with fishermen from different zones in the Gulf of Maine.
In the plan presented by the governor, several details are noted as ways the government will try and work with fishermen.
One would be a port assessment report requested by the government to see whether certain port towns would be congested by the presence of offshore wind.
"I feel like we are just putting the cart before the horse, really," House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, who is also a lobsterman, said. "I think there needs to be way more research into this before we lease out the ocean."
Faulkingham said more research needs to be done into how offshore wind development will harm wildlife in the ocean, citing the 17 whales that were found dead along the mid-Atlantic coast this winter, including one critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale.
He said a large number of those whales didn't have entanglements or ship strike marks and suggested it could have had to do with the offshore wind projects there.
For other lobstermen, they feel the way offshore wind is being developed is a double standard compared to the ongoing legal battles and "red listing" faced by the lobster industry.
Jeff White, a fisherman out of York, said it doesn't make sense to be headstrong about offshore wind projects when the lobster industry went through so much turmoil over a small level of risk to the right whale.
"It's mind-blowing to the lobster industry to think that at a time endangered whales cannot withstand any potential risk, a new industry can come along," White said.