New Orleans (US), Apr 24 (AP) A new five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production was announced on Wednesday by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, with up to a dozen lease sales anticipated beginning this year and continuing through 2028.

Haaland announced the plan at a conference in New Orleans.

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Under the plan outlined on Wednesday, which includes some previously announced lease auctions, three of the anticipated sales would be for Gulf of Mexico tracts to be offered this year, in 2025 and in 2027. Central Atlantic area leases would be sold in 2024 and 2026.

Other anticipated sale areas include the Gulf of Maine (2024 and 2028); Oregon waters (2024); an area of the Atlantic known as New York Bight (2027); and California, Hawaii, and an as-yet unspecified US territory (2028).

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The sales will be coordinated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Since the start of President Joe Biden's administration, the Interior Department has approved the nation's first eight large offshore wind projects and held four offshore wind auctions, including first-ever sales in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.

"As we look toward the future, this new leasing schedule will support the types of renewable energy projects needed to lower consumer costs, combat climate change, create jobs to support families, and ensure economic opportunities are accessible to all communities,” Haaland said in a news release ahead of remarks to a conference in New Orleans.

Haaland also announced on Wednesday that BOEM and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement had finalised updated regulations for renewable energy development offshore. (AP)

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