The U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 10 passed legislation that would authorize offshore wind energy development in the exclusive economic zone adjacent to all five U.S. territories extending 200 nautical miles seaward, while state waters extending 3 nautical miles would continue to remain under territorial jurisdiction.

• The bill would provide each territory with state-equivalent share of federal royalties collected from leases in federal waters off their coasts.
• The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, in coordination with the Energy Department’s national labs, would conduct a study on the feasibility of developing wind projects off their coasts.
• The legislation would require federal consultation with territorial Governors before any lease sale.
• Current law bars the Interior Department from permitting offshore wind farms in federal waters off the coasts of American Samoa, Guam the Northern Mariana Island, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands.