renewable energy

The Biden Administration wants to boost offshore wind. But other forces, including cost, political opposition and disinformation, have slowed adoption.

The Biden administration opened the first-ever leases for offshore wind in the Gulf of Mexico up for bid on Tuesday off the coasts of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas.

Two decades ago, author Mike Tidwell spent months in Louisiana’s Bayou Country, meeting with Cajuns, Vietnamese immigrants and Native Americans who make up the cultural landscape of the region. As he immersed himself in the food, music and traditions of the community, the residents warned him that their culture was at risk of disappearing due to the environmental challenges the state was facing.

In a state known for its oil and gas industry, companies are looking at Louisiana to build up the country’s offshore wind industry infrastructure.

Mississippi added incentives for low-to-moderate-income residents to encourage more investment in renewable energy. Activists are pushing for more access.

The proposed auction includes an area of more than 100,000 acres in the waters off Lake Charles, Louisiana, and two similarly sized areas off Galveston.

Despite generally liking renewable energy, the majority of Louisiana voters oppose efforts to shift the state away from oil and gas, according to a survey released earlier this year by the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance.

Over the next year and half, the U.S. Department of Energy’s technical experts will work with New Orleans officials to craft a plan to modernize the area’s energy infrastructure under a new program.

Because of its incentives, New Orleans is the only place in Louisiana that’s maintained an industry for residential solar, and advocates argue it will play a critical role in the transition away from burning fossil fuels. Combined with storage, those rooftop panels could also enhance the region’s resilience against the extreme weather and intense storms propelled by a warming planet.

Gov. John Bel Edwards has set a goal for Louisiana to be carbon neutral by 2050, but so far, the state is behind its neighbors. Now, Edwards wants to…