New Hampshire’s Office of Offshore Wind Industry Development and Energy Innovation is losing a few words from its title. Now, it’s simply called the Office of Energy Innovation.
The name change announces an erasure of state resources once aimed at boosting offshore wind in the state. A new law signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte earlier this month eliminated most, if not all, of the language that required the office to specifically support offshore wind development.
Republican Rep. J.D. Bernardy, a sponsor of the bill, said the office will continue to remain updated on offshore wind possibilities, but the energy source will no longer be “driving [the office] forward.”
“They can look at hydrogen, they can look at battery opportunities,” Bernardy added. “It's a full spectrum of all the various evolving energy sources that are potentially out there.”
The new law also shuts down two related state groups focused on workforce training and economic development. It’s a contrast from Gov. Chris Sununu’s administration, which had established and funded these offices in 2021, and it comes on the heels of the Trump administration rolling back support for offshore wind development by suspending new leases and rescinding funding for federal offices that would have supported those projects.
In a statement to NHPR, Ayotte wrote that the proposed offshore wind project in the Gulf of Maine “was too expensive, a risk to our commercial fishing industry, and not the right fit” for the state. She added that her administration will continue to work with “the federal government to expand energy options including natural gas” and pursue nuclear energy.
Within this landscape, Democratic Sen. David Watters, who used to serve as chair of the Offshore and Port Development Commission, was not surprised to see this legislation getting passed in New Hampshire.
“We're in an absurd place, but it's driven by federal policy and we're just a little state,” Watters said.
New Hampshire, unlike other New England states, doesn’t have binding climate policies and protections which prioritize offshore wind and other renewable energy sources.
“The bill that New Hampshire just passed is disheartening because that's the state taking a little bit more of the same approach as the federal administration,” said Mireille Bejjani, co-executive director of Slingshot, a New England nonprofit that works with communities facing environmental issues.
“I think the other states are still in the boat of we're going to try to figure this out because we know this is a key resource,” Bejjani added. Massachusetts, for example, has had to delay procurement deadlines while still figuring out ways to attract an industry that is being pushed out.
For Bejjani, the changes in New Hampshire also highlight how energy policy is becoming a more polarized issue, with approaches clearly divided among party lines.
“This idea [that] moving towards renewable alternatives is inherently a progressive policy perspective, it's unfortunate,” Bejjani said. “We've gotten so stuck in the politics of it that that shapes our energy directions more than the actual numbers and logic of it.”
House deputy majority leader Rep. Joe Sweeney said in a statement back in February that the bill would ensure that “taxpayer dollars are not wasted on speculative and intrusive offshore wind projects that threaten the Gulf of New Hampshire.”
Bernardy, one of the bill’s sponsors, said offshore wind can be “an extremely costly source of power and environmentally destructive” and raised concerns over how offshore wind farms might contaminate seawater through chemicals used on blades and cooling purposes.
Other Republicans that have supported the legislation have also raised concerns about impacts of offshore wind to fisheries and other ocean-dependent industries.
The legislation’s primary sponsor, Rep. Michael Harrington, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
But Watters says he thinks there’s still some hope for offshore wind in the state.
The new law also allows the Office of Energy Innovation to advise the governor on development of clean energy resources in the Gulf of Maine, including on “assessment of port facilities, economic impact, supply chain analysis, and development of workforce.”
The office will also be able to work with other agencies on certain aspects of offshore wind proposals.
“What I tried to do in amending the bill was to make sure that that office maintained a capacity to have conversations about and apprise us of if offshore wind starts to come back,” Watters said.
Still, he is worried about what delaying offshore wind development might mean for New Hampshire’s energy needs – both when it comes to meeting increasing demand and keeping prices low.
“I think we're just at the beginning of a real escalation of energy prices,” Watters said. And the only way I see out of that is through renewables. There's no other game in town right now.”
Bejjani also has concerns about what delaying a renewable energy transition will mean for climate change.
“I think we were on a path for it to be in the next five to 10 years … before the Trump administration took office,” Bejjani said. “And now with all of the barriers they're putting in place and how they're slowing things down, I'm not sure what that new timeline looks like.”
Watters also thinks there’s much to be lost economically, as offshore wind could bring in more jobs and industry investments to the state.
“I'm just afraid we're, you know, cutting off our nose to spite our face with some of these energy choices,” he said.
Get more New Hampshire news in your inbox: Sign up for the free Rundown newsletter.
