NARRAGANSETT — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has approved a Rhode Island ocean zoning plan that designates waters off the state’s coast for renewable energy development. The Ocean Special Area Management Plan, or SAMP, is the first of its kind in the nation to win federal approval.
NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco was joined by Governor Chafee in announcing the decision on Friday at the Bay Campus of the University of Rhode Island, whose scientists carried out much of the oceanographic research that the plan is based upon. Anne Livingston, chairwoman of the state Coastal Resources Management Council, which directed the two-year, $8-million effort to create the plan, and Paul Rich, chief development officer of Deepwater Wind, the company that proposes building two wind farms off Rhode Island, were also among the speakers.
Lubchenco heralded the Rhode Island plan as a model that other states can follow as they try to find the best locations for offshore renewable energy while still balancing the interests of commercial and recreational fishermen, boaters, environmentalists and others.
Read the complete story from The Providence Journal.