The Trump Administration has proposed a $189m fiscal year 2021 budget for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), designating just under $27m for offshore wind.
The proposed FY 2021 budget includes approximately $26.5m to “advance offshore renewable energy development”, compared with $21.3m in FY 2020, which formed part of an overall budget of $193.4m for the agency.
BOEM will use the funds to “continue to advance renewable energy” through its leasing programme and is “streamlining” its permitting and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes.
The lion’s share of the FY 2021 budget, some $76m, will be spent on environmental programmes.
The agency stated: “Science is vital to BOEM’s mission to manage offshore energy and mineral resources in an environmentally and economically responsible manner.
“BOEM conducts its environmental analyses in a transparent, coordinated, and streamlined fashion to ensure that decisions regarding potential environmental impacts are informed by the best available science. Under the proposed budget, BOEM will continue to use environmental science as the foundation for sound policy decisions.”
Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt said: “President Trump’s 2021 budget request for the department is about investing in our people and public lands and waters.”
BOEM’s budget proposal continues to support efforts to advance the goals of the President’s Executive Order 13795, Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.
“This Administration calls for furthering America’s energy security, producing energy in a safe and environmentally sound manner, while ensuring fair market value to the taxpayers,” said BOEM acting director Walter Cruickshank, adding, “The FY 2021 budget request allows BOEM to continue its efforts to advance these goals as part of our statutory mission.”
In the FY 2021 budget, the oil and gas development spend is $60.5m, while BOEM’s marine minerals programme has secured $8.8m.