‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’ – Biden hails Gulf of Mexico wind auction on campaign trail

Biden was at the Philly Shipyard yesterday (20 July) for a steel-cutting ceremony for the Acadia – the first US-built subsea rock installation vessel for offshore wind. 

The vessel will move rocks from quarries to offshore wind sites, to protect the foundations, according to the White House. 

At the ceremony, the president touted his administration’s support of green jobs, including in offshore wind. 

“A lot of my friends in organised labour know, when I think climate, I think jobs. I think union jobs,” Biden said.

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Now read: US gives date for 3.7GW first offshore wind tender in Gulf of Mexico

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‘Bidenomics’

The president’s economic agenda – ‘Bidenomics’ – is fuelling the US’s clean energy future, according to the White House. It is “creating American-made products in American factories with American workers, and attracting more than $500 billion in private-sector manufacturing and clean energy investments, including in the offshore wind industry,” the White House said in a statement accompanying the visit.

The visit followed the Biden administration’s announcement of a wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico for 3.7GW next month.

Commenting on the forthcoming tender, the president said: “We’re going to the gulf. You think I’m kidding? You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Companies pre-qualified to bid include Equinor, TotalEnergies, Avangrid Renewables, South Korea’s Hanwha Offshore North America, RWE, Shell, Hecate Energy and Texas private equity firm Quantum Capital.

‘Windmills do not cause cancer’

The Biden administration has a goal of 30GW of offshore wind by 2030. Biden has made offshore wind a cornerstone of his climate policies. 

In his speech, Biden took a jab at the frontrunner of the Republican race for presidential nomination, ex-president Donald Trump. Biden said, “Notwithstanding what the other guy said, windmills do not cause cancer.”

Biden narrowly won Pennsylvania over Trump in 2020, and the state is expected to be a battleground during campaigning for the November 2024 vote for the White House.