The United States is poised for the birth of a brand new industry, one that will invest tens of billions of dollars in our economy, reshape our coastal communities, and one that could be one of the sharpest knives in our fight against climate change: offshore wind.
After 20 years of politicization and red tape, the U.S. is moving full speed ahead on installing offshore wind energy. It’s going to be huge: tens of thousands of jobs, tens of billions of dollars injected into the economy, and 2,000 turbines taller than the Washington Monument in the Atlantic Ocean.
This week on Vermont Edition, we listen to the series Windfall from NHPR’s award-winning podcast Outside/In, which investigates the rise of this brand new American industry. This is the story of a promising green energy technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. It’s the story of an organized opposition and how the failures of the past define future success at a time when the government is poised to take real action on climate change. Ultimately, this is a story about power: who has power, where does it come from, and who benefits.
Miss it on the air? You can listen back to the entire Windfall series here.