WASHINGTON (April 22, 2009) – New offshore renewable energy rules finalized today by President Barack Obama and Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar makes the clean energy goals set forward in Congressional legislation even more attainable. The rules, which stalled under the Bush administration, will set a framework to grant leases, easements, and rights-of-way for offshore renewable energy development.

“These rules will unleash a wave of American clean energy development,” said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who is co-author of energy legislation that includes strong targets for renewable energy. “Looking beyond our shores, to the winds, tides and waves for discoveries should not be the solitary providence of explorers, but for clean energy entrepreneurs who will chart the course to America’s energy independence.”

Recently Rep. Markey and Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) introduced clean energy and global warming legislation that includes a renewable electricity standard calling for 25 percent of America’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2025. Establishing clear rules for offshore renewable energy development will allow enormous resources to be used. The shores off New England, for example, could supply 185,000 megawatts of electricity, more than 6 times the peak demand for the region and roughly the equivalent of nearly 400 average coal plants.

# # #