Scott Jennings, president of PSEG Global, issued the following statement regarding Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on November 23 announcing an initiative to facilitate siting, leasing and construction of offshore wind projects off the Atlantic Coast:
"This is welcome news, a promising step forward. Secretary Salazar should be commended for taking this initiative to reduce red tape and help create an environment that supports clean energy investments. Streamlining the leasing process by eliminating unnecessary steps is an important component in making offshore wind a commercially viable business. Today's announcement shows that the Interior Department recognizes that a more certain and expedited process can help unlock the potential of America's offshore wind resources and that they are taking action to advance those efforts.
"Developers continue to face many challenges to ensure that offshore wind meets the needs of various stakeholders – environmental objectives, achieving economic development benefits through job creation and developing projects in a cost-effective manner for consumers. We continue to work within New Jersey's balanced policy that establishes a net positive benefits test where economic development and other system benefits must outweigh the cost of the program. A more certain and streamlined leasing and permitting timeline improves the prospects of meeting these objectives and launching this industry.
"We look forward to working with the Interior Department and the State of New Jersey in the next step in this process when they issue a Request for Interest for New Jersey sites."
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is a publicly traded diversified energy company with annual revenues of more than $13 billion, and three principal subsidiaries: PSEG Power, Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) and PSEG Energy Holdings.