Dive Brief:

• Construction will begin next spring on the first offshore wind farm in the U.S.

• Deepwater Wind will anchor five turbines to the ocean floor near Block Island—which is part of Rhode Island—and will build a transmission cable to carry the electricity they generate to a grid on land.

• The project has been delayed for years as the company, the government and environmental groups negotiated ways to safeguard a habitat for an endangered species of whales in the area. The company will take precautions, including a construction moratorium in early spring, when whales are most likely to be there; noise-abatement; slow-moving ships; and surveillance to spot the whales.

Dive Insight:

The Department of Interior has been auctioning offshore wind leases off the coasts of Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Delaware. Last spring, Maryland became the first state to adopt a law for subsidizing offshore wind by contracting with a private developer to build an offshore wind farm.