Every summer people from around the country flock to Cape Cod, Massachusetts to vacation at the many beaches that part of the state has to offer. If traveling by car, one must head east on Interstate 195 and pass through New Bedford. From the highway, the skyline of the city appears and reveals what looks like a blighted urban center that has clearly seen better days. However, also visible are large white towering structures that loom over the city. These structures appear to be some type of machinery in pieces and are accompanied by a large red crane that towers over even higher. Though their relevance can not easily be determined by a traveler quickly passing above the city, these structures are disassembled pieces of the wind turbines that have quickly become a symbol of hope for a city that was once the richest in the world and now seeks to revitalize itself with the birth of the offshore wind industry.
After decades of debate and backlog from both the state and federal government, the Biden Administration approved the first major offshore wind farm which was set to be built 12 miles off the coast of Martha’s vineyard. This announcement from the federal government came in May of 2021 and set in motion Vineyard Wind’s proposal to build turbines that could generate up to 800 megawatts of electricity. This first of its kind project was especially important to New Bedford since Vineyard Wind had selected the city to be the host port for construction, maintenance, and operations. In effect, this would allow New Bedford to cash in on the 3,600 jobs the project was estimated to create and begin the new and brighter chapter that the city has been pushing toward.
Flash forward to the present. In January 2025 Vineyard Wind is currently finishing the first phase of its wind farm known as Vineyard 1, and several other proposals from various other companies have been selected to build additional wind farms around the area of Vineyard 1. Though this is momentous progress for the offshore wind industry in the United States, the economic development of communities like New Bedford, and the push toward renewable energy sources, all of this has not come without challenge.
In July a blade broke apart on a Vineyard Wind turbine which led to a cease in construction between July 18 and August 14 this past summer. Additionally this event renewed questions from critics of the project about the environmental impact of the wind farm. In fact, since this failure, critics have gone as far as blaming the project for potentially causing an uptick in dead whales found along the shores of the South Coast of Massachusetts since the start of construction. They base their claim on the hypothesis that the sound produced by the turbines as well as the disturbance of marine ecosystems caused by installation is disrupting whale’s biological sonar. Claims like this one prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to release a report last March pushing back against this idea.
The most recent challenge to the growth and development of the offshore wind industry came with the reelection of former president Donald Trump in November. Trump has made it clear throughout his first term as president, and most recently on the campaign trail for the 2024 election, that he opposes the expansion of renewable energy at the expense of fossil fuel production. Beyond the resounding chants of “drill baby drill” by the president-elect and his supporters more concrete evidence of the president-elect’s distaste for renewable energy can be found within the first Trump Administration (2017-2021). During his first year in office Trump made the decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. This agreement is a commitment by 194 countries and the European Union to cut greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent average global temperature from rising over 1.5 degrees celsius. Pulling out of the agreement is something the president-elect has said he would do again while campaigning for reelection. The prospect of this certainly could become a major issue for the fledgling offshore wind industry as federal support for the project will likely be pulled as Trump’s anti-renewable energy agenda takes hold.
Despite all of the many challenges the offshore wind industry has faced over the past year, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy has said the state is committed to continuing the development of the industry. In a November press conference after the conclusion of the presidential election, as speculation swirled about the future of renewable energy in the United States, the governor made it clear that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts would continue to support the industry regardless of federal support. The governor said, “Mark my words: We will show them. Because we’re moving ahead. We’ll show them.” The governor also acknowledged that the new Trump Administration may bring unique challenges to the project. “As we look ahead, there’s a certain amount of uncertainty with the new administration. But I firmly believe that the fabric of this industry, of this clean energy industry, is strong. You know, we have private corporations, we have research institutions, we have incredible union leadership and unions, and we have our friends in the environmental community who we credit for so much of the advocacy and helping us move forward to this place of a better understanding that we need to act now,” she said.
When the Biden Administration put the federal government’s support behind the offshore wind industry, suddenly the Massachusetts economy was expanded with an entirely new sector added and as a result the economic development of communities like New Bedford now hung in the balance. Although the exact impact is still difficult to determine the prospect of significant economic development made the governor’s recent commitment all the more important as the state aims to chart a new path forward alone without the federal government.
It is important to acknowledge that these commitments by the governor could be empty promises that never come to fruition (an often stereotypical view of politicians). But, if this is the case then the revitalization of New Bedford and the local economy of the South Coast as a whole is threatened. Though New Bedford was on the rebound before the emergence of the offshore wind industry, with it the city has the potential to catapult itself upward in a shorter time than without it. Expanded job opportunities and state investment in the city that the project brings spurs development. In fact, the effect of this investment is evident in just the last year as several developers unveiled various new housing developments in the city which are oriented toward working professionals moving to the city. It is important to note that these recent housing developments may also be an effect on the incoming commuter rail service that is supposed to begin in May 2025 via the South Coast Rail project. Nevertheless, these developments are significant and are aided by the presence of industry like offshore wind to make the city of New Bedford attractive to developers.
With much to consider about the future of the industry I believe offshore wind in Massachusetts must continue with or without the federal government because the future economic development and progress of the state’s most vulnerable communities, like New Bedford, depends on it. Too much time and money has been invested into the project to quit now. Without the offshore wind industry to guide New Bedford and communities alike into the future I fear these cities will never be able to shake the blighted facade that many other former textile cities now bear. Without the offshore wind industry these places will remain as nothing more than brief stopping points on the path to somewhere else, rather than truly becoming destinations – hubs of job creation, innovation, and sustainable growth.
