Opening a new frontier in the region’s offshore wind power push, the federal government on Friday finalized its designation of a two-million-acre wind energy area off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said the designated Gulf of Maine area would support President Joe Biden’s goals of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030 and 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind energy capacity by 2035.
The area, which ranges from 23 to 92 miles off the coasts of the three states, has the potential to support generation of 32 gigawatts of clean energy, the bureau said. That amount of energy surpasses “current state goals for offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Maine: 10 GW for Massachusetts and 3 GW for Maine,” BOEM said.
Advertisement
Thirty gigawatts of offshore wind power would provide enough electricity for 10 million homes, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
As part of a transition away from fossil fuels, Massachusetts and other East Coast states are at the dawn of a years-long effort to eventually make offshore wind turbines a major source of power, with initial efforts in Massachusetts focused on areas south of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. The newly designated zone lies to the east of the state.
The area’s designation “is a major step in the transition of our energy economy from dirty fossil fuels to clean wind energy,” said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president of law and policy at the Conservation Law Foundation.
BOEM “did a thorough job of listening to concerns about protecting marine life,” Daly said.
Advertisement
“For the most part this designation has carved out the most sensitive areas and excluded them from wind turbine construction,” Daly said. “CLF will continue to work with BOEM to ensure all possible protections for vulnerable marine wildlife and important habitats are built into the process as it moves toward leasing and construction of these floating turbines. This a very good day for our climate and our energy future.”
BOEM finalized the area’s boundaries after “extensive engagement” with the three states, tribes, local residents and ocean users, including the fishing community, federal government partners and others.
The bureau published a notice in the Federal Register on Monday announcing its intent to prepare an environmental assessment of potential impacts from offshore wind leasing activities in the wind energy area.
The notice initiates a 30-day public comment period, and BOEM said another would occur if the agency decides to proceed with a lease sale in the wind energy area.
The designated zone represents an 80% reduction from the area BOEM initially identified for possible leasing and a 43% reduction from the draft wind energy area, the agency said, citing its responsiveness to comments from the public and other entities.
Advertisement
The proposal avoids important areas for lobster and other fishing, North Atlantic right whale habitat and the majority of the historical and present-day fishing grounds of tribal nations within Maine, the agency said.
“BOEM is committed to maintaining strong collaboration with the states of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire as we advance our efforts in the Gulf of Maine,” BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein said in a statement. “We remain dedicated to engaging with Tribal governments, federal and state agencies, ocean stakeholders, coastal communities, and all interested parties as we progress through our environmental review.”
The Biden administration on Thursday celebrated the completion of the South Fork Wind project off Long Island, N.Y., with the White House calling it a “watershed moment” for its climate and energy agenda. “The nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm … is expected to generate approximately 130 megawatts of clean energy, enough to power more than 70,000 homes.”
Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans.
CONCORD — Out of Joe Biden’s shadow, Vice President Kamala Harris’s historic campaign to become the nation’s first woman president began well here this past week, though she didn’t lack for detractors.
“I think Granite Staters are really excited to have Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket,” said Craig Brown, who was state director of her 2020 presidential run.
“She is someone who has really been a fighter her entire career. … She has what it takes to be president,” Brown said.
Advertisement
But to win New Hampshire this November, Harris will need a script vastly different from the one that received lousy reviews during her first presidential bid four years ago.
Harris never got to the 2020 presidential candidate filing gate in New Hampshire, dropping out in December 2019, weeks after her campaign said she would “mail” in her candidacy papers rather than show up in person.
“To call that campaign an epic failure is a gross understatement,” said Greg Moore, regional director for Americans for Prosperity, a fiscally conservative group that backed Nikki Haley’s 2024 White House run.
After a successful New Hampshire visit, Harris infamously said on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah that New Hampshire journalists acted surprised that a woman of color would spend so much time campaigning in mostly white New Hampshire.
“The first line of questioning I got was, ‘You’re in New Hampshire, and we heard you’re not going to come to New Hampshire. We thought you weren’t going to compete in New Hampshire,’” Harris said at the time.
Advertisement
“And what no one said, but the inference was, well, the demographic of New Hampshire is not who you are in terms of your race and who you are.”
Since being elected with Biden in 2020, Harris has been in the state once, for an April 2021 visit that was well-received. Her husband has been here twice.
A wide open race
Pat Griffin, a Republican media strategist who worked on the ground here to help elect both Bush presidents, said, “She truly has been thus far a terrible candidate — the cackle, the prancing around, it’s difficult to watch.
“All that said, she has one important thing Joe Biden did not have. She behaves 24/7 like she’s truly alive, and against Donald Trump, with all the baggage he has, that counts for a lot.”
Academics and political insiders agree Harris has a brief window to cultivate an image that offers a contrast not just to Trump but to her current boss.
Advertisement
Then-candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris spar during a 2020 Democratic presidential debate in Detroit in August 2019. Some observers say Harris’s performance then makes them look forward to a debate with Donald Trump.
Advertisement
Lucas Jackson/Reuters File
“This race is now wide open both here and nationally,” said Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.
“If she takes this moment to sort of change things, it could really have an impact. Whether she does it or not is the question. She is not brand-new, she’s a known commodity, but there is the potential to reshape her image as someone other than a West Coast left-wing liberal.”
As if on cue, a new University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll of New Hampshire voters has Harris leading Trump 49% to 43%, with a solid 45% to 33% edge among independent voters.
In a UNH poll in May, 84% of Democrats were solidly backing Biden. In the new poll, conducted Tuesday through Thursday, the party base support for Harris was up to 94%.
Advertisement
Dante Scala, professor of politics at UNH, believes this quick sprint to Nov. 5 will work in Harris’s favor.
“They don’t have to worry about overthinking it,” Scala said. “So many times we see candidates and campaigns try way too hard. This is going to be all about impulse and instincts. If she has the right ones, this could go real well.”
Scala said her 14th-place showing in the New Hampshire primary after she quit the race won’t matter a whit.
“You remember all that, I remember all that, but most voters don’t even have a memory of her as a presidential candidate,” Scala said. “In that respect, she’s a clean slate.”
Appeal to youth
There’s no disputing that young Democratic-leaning voters are energized by the prospect of nominating Harris, 59, rather than Biden, 81.
Advertisement
New Hampshire has 11 young delegates going to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, one of the largest groups per capita of any state in the nation.
“Young people know what’s at stake this fall because our rights are on the ballot,” said K.R. Epstein of Manchester, one of those younger delegates. “We also know that young people have the power to sway presidential elections and Vice President Kamala Harris is focused on earning our votes. I know that VP Harris has the ability to take on Donald Trump and win.”
Another young delegate, Prescott Herzog of Claremont, said he’s confident Harris will reunite the Democratic Party.
“This will be my first time voting in a presidential election. and I couldn’t be prouder to cast my vote for Kamala Harris,” Herzog said.
“Her work with President Biden enacting legislation on the issues young voters care about, from climate to gun violence, shows that she will continue the Biden-Harris administration’s effectiveness.”
Advertisement
After fiercely fighting to preserve the state’s first-in-the-nation primary, Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said he was determined to put together a delegate slate that looked like America. He did it with many minority delegates and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley conducts a press briefing with fellow democrats including Sen. Becky Whitley (D-Hopkinton) at a party office in downtown Nashua on Wednesday.
Advertisement
DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER
Concord lobbyist Jim Demers, who has been a pledged delegate to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, said this may prove to be his most memorable convention.
“I’ve never been this stoked for a convention before. They are all fun, but this one is one for the history books,” said Demers. “I am really thrilled for the youngest members of the delegation, because this is a great story they’ll be able to tell their grandchildren.”
State Rep. Latha Mangipudi, D-Nashua, a superdelegate to the convention this time and a leader in the state’s growing Indian community, said “it’s long past time” for a woman to ascend to the nation’s highest office.
“We have even had Third World nations that have had women presidents. This is the time, this is the election, this is the candidate,” Mangipudi said.
Advertisement
Delegate Sumathi Madhure, a physical therapist, said she had doubts there would be a South Asian on the presidential ticket in her lifetime. Now there’s an even shot one becomes president.
“Fairly or not, there was some apathy out there with President Biden at the top of the ticket,” Madhure said during a news conference this past week. “Now, all that is gone and wiped away.”
State Rep. Latha Mangipudi, D-Nashua, talks with then-U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris during Harris’s presidential campaign stop in Nashua in May 2019.
Advertisement
Kimberly Houghton/Union Leader File
A surge of energy
Despite her stumbles as a candidate in 2020, Harris had her moments, including her comments at the first presidential debate about Biden’s past support for forced busing.
“I for one can’t wait for that debate or debates with Donald Trump,” said former state House Speaker Terie Norelli, D-Portsmouth, and the first female Democrat to lead the 400-person House.
“What’s most amazing to me was that this surge of energy came flooding in literally in an instant. You can’t manufacture that.”
Advertisement
Scala believes the election here may be determined by the middle-class male vote, which Trump won decisively in 2016 but Biden securely captured in 2020.
“How they vote will determine if this is a nail-biter like it was for Hillary Clinton (who narrowly won here) in 2016 or a pretty easy ride like it was for Biden four years later,” Scala said.
“Yes, we’re a swing state, but a Democratic-presidential leaning state.”
Griffin, the Republican media strategist, said he just doesn’t know where the small but pivotal number of truly undecided voters will move here and in other swing states.
“I think she’s got a better shot at them because so many have looked at Trump and decided they aren’t eating that dog food,” Griffin said. But, he said, “She has to make a very strong sell.”
Advertisement
Buckley, the state Democratic Party chair, thinks his party’s secret weapon is its ground game. Democrats have 16 field offices and counting. Trump has a single headquarters and only has started to bring on a few dedicated staffers.
The reality is the Trump team nationally views the Granite State and its four electoral votes as a luxury — one they don’t need to get to the 280 needed to clinch the victory.
“Trump’s not going to play here,” Buckley said.
Scala said the 2024 race is all about Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona.
But New Hampshire still could be telling.
Advertisement
“Come September, if New Hampshire is still a toss-up, very much in play for Trump, then that’s a very bad look for Harris,” Scala said.
Kamala Harris has a significant lead over Donald Trump in New Hampshire, according to new polling data.
In the first public survey of New Hampshire voters since Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Harris has a lead of 6 points over the former president.
The poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire between July 23 and 25, shows Harris with a 49 to 43 percent lead over Trump. The poll surveyed 3,016 people and had a margin of error of 1.8 percent.
In a Saint Anselm College Survey Center (SASC) poll of 2,083 New Hampshire registered voters conducted between July 24 and 25, Harris had a 50-44 percent margin over Trump. The poll had a 2.1 percent margin of error.
Advertisement
Harris was not previously leading in the state. In a poll conducted by the New Hampshire Journal and Praecones Analytica after the Republican convention but before Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 campaign, when Harris was matched up against Trump in a head-to-head, her Republican rival was leading her by one point, on 40 percent to her 39 percent.
In the same poll, Trump and Biden were essentially tied, with Trump on 39.7 and Biden on 39.4 percent.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Houston, Texas, on July 25, 2024. She is leading Donald Trump by 6 points in New Hampshire. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Houston, Texas, on July 25, 2024. She is leading Donald Trump by 6 points in New Hampshire. Montinique Monroe/Getty Images
New Hampshire has voted Democratic in all but one election since 1992, but it is considered a battleground state in most election cycles because control of its state legislature and congressional seats have switched back and forth between Republicans and Democrats.
In 2020, Biden won the state with 52 percent of the vote to Trump’s 45 percent, while in 2016, Hillary Clinton was able to carry the state by around 2,700 votes.
Neil Levesque, Executive Director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, noted: “With President Biden’s endorsement and the Democratic campaign’s shift to Harris, she has emerged with a consolidated party support, which enhances her standing against Trump among New Hampshire voters.”
Advertisement
Levesque added: “Harris has achieved a level of partisan enthusiasm that Biden did not, especially among the liberal base: 94 percent of Democratic voters now support Harris, a noticeable increase from Biden’s 82 percent in June. As Harris takes the lead in the campaign, shifts in voter perceptions are expected to continue.”
Multiple polls have put Harris in the lead over Trump since she became the front runner for the Democratic nomination.
In a poll conducted by Morning Consult between July 22 and 24, Harris was leading Trump by one point, with 46 percent supporting Harris to Trump’s 45 percent.
And a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted on Monday and Tuesday showed Harris with a 2-point lead over Trump, with 44 percent of those polled supporting her in a head-to-head contest with the Republican, while 42 percent backed the former president. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
However, not all the polls are favorable to Harris. In the latest poll conducted by the New York Times and Siena College, Trump was leading Harris by 2 points among registered voters and 1 point among likely voters.
Advertisement
Another poll conducted by Morning Consult after Biden ended his reelection campaign showed Trump had a 2-point lead over Harris, with 47 percent supporting the former president compared to 45 percent backing Harris.
The poll also showed that Trump’s margin over the Democrats had decreased. The former president was now only 2 points ahead of Harris, after a previous survey by the same pollsters put Trump four points ahead of Biden—46 percent to the president’s 42 percent.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
NASHUA — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Vice President Kamala Harris “should be bold” when choosing her running mate.
While the two-term governor is one of at least seven Democrats being vetted by the Harris campaign, she has repeatedly said that she not interested in the position. She reiterated that to reporters on Thursday in New Hampshire, saying she’s “not going anywhere” and remains committed to her role as Michigan’s governor.
Whitmer said the current field of vice presidential candidates, which includes Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and fellow Michigander Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, are all “wonderful.”
“I am a little biased toward governors because, you know, I think executive experience would be a helpful thing in the White House. But Mark Kelly is fantastic, Josh Shapiro, there’s just a great list of people that I know that they’re talking to,” Whitmer said. “As a governor who handpicks my running mate in Michigan, I just know that having someone that you can trust who shares your values, and that you get along with, I think, is paramount and only she can make that decision.”
Advertisement
While the current field is largely white men, Whitmer said she believes Harris “feels the same way” that they should be “bold” with their choice, adding two women or two people of color on the presidential ticket would be “exciting.”
Whitmer says Harris brings renewed sense of energy in 2024 election
Whitmer was in New Hampshire on behalf of Harris and in her capacity as a co-chair of Harris’ campaign, a similar role she had with President Joe Biden’s campaign prior to him dropping out of the race and endorsing Harris.
In front of a small crowd at Liquid Therapy in Nashua, she touched on topics ranging from reproductive freedom to Project 2025 in a discussion moderated by former House Speaker Terie Norelli, a Democrat from Portsmouth.
It was Whitmer’s first visit to the Granite State. She said she chose to visit now because “people in New Hampshire matter” and the Harris campaign is taking “no vote, no community for granted.” She emphasized the importance of connecting with those across the country who may find the political news cycle “overwhelming.”
Advertisement
Like New Hampshire, Michigan is a swing state that will be critical for either party to secure victory in the presidential election. New Hampshire has four electoral votes while Michigan has 15 and is considered a key battleground state.
Both states have tended to vote Democratic, but former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, won Michigan in 2016, before losing the state to Biden in 2020. Trump led Biden in recent polling in New Hampshire, where Biden won in 2020 and Hillary Clinton won in 2016.
Biden’s exit was a surprise to her, Whitmer said, and she emphasized her gratitude for the “sacrifices he made on behalf of others.” But since he exited the race, Whitmer said she’s seen a renewed sense of energy and excitement, something that she doesn’t normally see this early in an election.
“It is going to be joyous, inclusive, future-forward-looking convention,” Whitmer said of the Democratic National Convention, scheduled to take place from Aug. 19-22 in Chicago. “November 5, then, after polls close, we can have a cocktail and cheers to Madam President.”
