US Department of Interior to Consider Offshore Wind in Gulf of Mexico

On June 8, 2021, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) intends to issue a request for information (RFI) to assess interest in potential offshore wind development in the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf.

The RFI will be focused on the Western and Central Planning Areas of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) offshore the states of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. (See map here.) Although the RFI’s primary focus is wind energy development, BOEM will also seek information on other renewable energy technologies.

Also, BOEM has announced that it will hold the first meeting of the Gulf of Mexico Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force on June 15, 2021. The agenda says the meeting aims to “[f]acilitate coordination and consultation among federal, state, local, and tribal governments regarding offshore wind energy and the renewable energy leasing process on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico” and includes several presentations and panels.