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BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) — On Thursday, Governor John Bel Edwards spoke at the Floating Offshore Wind Shot Summit to share what Louisiana is doing.

Floating offshore wind turbine technology is just one of the tools state and federal agencies are implementing to reduce our carbon footprint.

“We in Louisiana are excited at the potential for any acceleration of the development of offshore wind energy,” said Gov. Edwards.

Investments in floating offshore wind will help by tapping into more than double the current United States electricity consumption, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). Gov. Edwards said he is excited about Louisiana’s participation.

“That’s why back in November of 2020, Louisiana requested that the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) set up an intergovernmental task force to evaluate the potential in the Northern Gulf of Mexico for renewable development,” said Gov. Edwards.

People from across the globe joined the panel hosted by the DOE to speak on the shared goal to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind in deep waters by more than 70%.

“We have recognized in Louisiana that we need to take action. Not just to protect our eroding coast, but to address root causes of climate change, particularly our carbon emissions and that is why Louisiana has made a commitment to have net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Gov. Edwards.

On Wednesday, the Biden administration proposed an offshore wind sale in the Gulf of Mexico including a 102,480-acre area offshore of Lake Charles.

“Opportunities like this are exactly why Louisiana joined the Federal State Off Shore Wind implementation partnership and the choice of federal waters off the southwest Louisiana we believe is an excellent one,” stated Edwards.