Nov 4 (Reuters) - A top U.S. official on Thursday challenged nations to join the United States in setting aggressive goals to expand electricity production from offshore wind.<\/p>\n
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued the call during an appearance at the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland.<\/p>\n
The administration of President Joe Biden has moved swiftly this year to support a nascent offshore wind industry in the United States, a key part of its plan to decarbonize the power sector by 2035 and address global warming.<\/p>\n
\"We are in an exciting time - and the Biden-Harris administration is taking bold action to advance clean energy to make people's lives better and build a more sustainable future,\" Haaland said. \"Together, we need to set ambitious goals and commit the resources to get it done.\"<\/p>\n
This year, the White House set a target of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy along every U.S. coastline by 2030. That would be enough electricity to power 10 million homes.<\/p>\n
The 30-GW goal is roughly the amount that already exists in Europes two-decade old industry, but is a tall order for a nation that currently has just two small offshore wind farms.<\/p>\n
At a press conference in Glasgow, Haaland dismissed concerns that Washington's efforts to boost offshore wind would be hindered by tough environmental review process and opposition from fishing interests.<\/p>\n
\"It's a priority and we'll just make sure that it gets done,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Haaland's agency has stumbled in its effort to restrict fossil fuel development on public lands after a federal judge in June ordered the government to resume drilling auctions that were paused by Biden in January.<\/p>\n
Because of that ruling, Interior is scheduled to hold a sale of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico later this month and has proposed to auction onshore parcels to drillers in several states in early 2022.<\/p>\n
Interior is \"making a lot of changes now\" to its oil and gas leasing program, Haaland said at the press briefing, including evaluating its impacts on climate change.<\/p>\n
\"We are doing everything we can at the department to ensure that we are analyzing these leases with climate change as a backdrop,\" Haaland said in response to a question about the future of the program.<\/p>\n
Reporting by Nichola GroomEditing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio<\/p>\n
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.<\/p>\n
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