Offshore Wind’s Effect on Coastal Tourism

 

The United States’ development of offshore wind facilities might severely impact the many regions along the nation’s shores that rely on coastal tourism and recreation as key economic contributors.

 

And though other nations have used offshore wind facilities for decades, the technology is new to the United States, offering very little data on its tourism and recreation impacts domestically, noted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

 

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has therefore sponsored the development of an economic baseline for tourism and recreation in East Coast areas that would be most impacted by offshore wind development.

 

The researchers began by reviewing existing literature to develop a “scorecard” that would rank coastal areas by their exposure to these impacts. The scorecard was applied to 113 geographies, primarily counties. The researchers then developed community profiles for the 70 most vulnerable counties. Each community profile includes a variety of economic, social and tourism-related information, and Economics: National Ocean Watch (ENOW) data as presented in the Ocean Jobs Snapshot were a primary source of information for these community profiles.

 

BOEM is using this study to inform the development of offshore wind energy planning areas along the Atlantic Coast. In addition, BOEM is using the study to inform decision makers by including it in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents and analysis. The baseline can also be used in the future for additional study efforts, targeted stakeholder outreach and post-development impact assessments.