Biden visits Philly Shipyard, announces 'American' construction projects

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U.S. President Joe Biden touts his economic agenda at the Philadelphia Shipyard in Philadelphia on Thursday. Biden’s appearance was intended to highlight progress under the president’s “Made in America” agenda. Photo by Laurence Kesterson/UPI | License Photo

July 20 (UPI) — President Joe Biden visited a Philadelphia shipyard Thursday to announce construction of a new offshore wind vessel as part of the administration’s continued push on manufacturing and clean energy.

Biden’s appearance at Philly Shipyard was intended to highlight progress under the president’s “Made in America” agenda, with 1,000 workers across nine labor unions set to build the power generators with steel plates produced by United Steelworkers in Indiana, the White House said.

The massive wind turbine is expected to generate an estimated $125 million in renewable energy each year, according to the White House.

Reminding the audience that his administration had set a goal of producing 30 gigawatts of offshore energy wind by 2030, Biden said construction is underway on several similar clean-energy projects off the East Coast.

“And here in the Philly Shipyard, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is also stepping up to help meet the clean energy goals,” Biden said. “Here today, workers from nine different unions will start building a vessel called the Acadia. It’s going to place heavy rocks at the base of the offshore wind projects to stabilize them when they put these down, and it’s going to … protect it against erosion.”

Biden said the ship will be the first of its kind made in America, drawing applause when he said, “American owned, American operated.”

“And the rocks will come from American quarries, and it’ll be loaded at American ports,” the president said.

As part of the day’s events, the Interior Department also announced the final sale of the first-ever offshore wind lease in the Gulf of Mexico, which was set to be finalized on Aug. 29.

The new energy source is expected to power about 1.3 million homes throughout Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Galveston, Texas.

“Today, we announced the first-ever offshore wind sale in the Gulf of Mexico,” Biden said, laughingly adding: “Ain’t seen nothing yet.”

He then cited a project in Paulsboro, N.J., in which workers already are welding the steel foundation for a large-scale wind project that Biden said would create “3,000 good-paying jobs.”

Biden used the Philadelphia event to also tout existing deals in the New York Bight, Carolina Long Bay, and northern and central California. On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it completed another step in reviewing a potential offshore wind research lease in the Gulf of Maine.

Since 2021, investments in the U.S. offshore wind industry have quadrupled from $5 billion to $21.6 billion, including another $7.7 billion since Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act that same year, the White House said.

Over the last two years, companies in Florida, Louisiana, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin have announced 18 new wind vessel projects, while nearly $3.5 billion has been invested across another two dozen ports and manufacturing facilities across the nation.

The Vineyard Wind offshore turbine in Massachusetts will create enough clean electricity to power 400,000 homes, saving customers $1.4 billion on their utility bills over 20 years, the White House said.

The push toward wind energy was also strengthening the U.S. supply chain as companies shipped industrial materials coast to coast to make the massive wind towers, the White House said.

Tax credits have also helped to shore up ports, build transmission infrastructure, and boost workforce development to support the industry, while the government was seeking longterm federal funding to maintenance the wind vessels over time.

The new lease sale for wind power developments in the Gulf of Mexico was first announced in February, and was expected to move the country one step closer to Biden’s goal of having 30 gigawatts of offshore wind installed by 2030, with another 15 GW coming from floating turbine installations by 2035.

That would be enough to power more than 10 million homes with clean energy.

In 2021, the Biden administration approved construction of a large-scale wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island that will supply power to 70,000 homes in New York.

Additionally, more than 4,100 companies across the country have applied for funds from the Inflation Reduction Act to continue growing the offshore industry.