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Mike Moen, Consul and Head of Economic Affairs for the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Participates in Regional Conference on Offshore Wind Energy

The seminar will bring together state and provincial officials from the Northeastern U.S. and Eastern Canada for two days of intensive discussions, focused on catalyzing the development of a clean power resource that offers the potential to create broad economic and environmental benefits for the region.

"Offshore wind is a potential source of abundant, home-grown, emission-free power that could serve as a critical economic stimulus for our region," said Moen. "I am pleased to be joining this important discussion with my Northeastern colleagues to help reduce our reliance on foreign imports of energy and create stable, well-paying jobs in a thriving, clean-energy economy."

The seminar will be held in conjunction with the 2011 CSG/ERC Annual Meeting and Regional Policy Forum at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel. The meeting, entitled "Charting A Course to a Stronger Regional Economy: Partnerships - Relationships, A New of Doing Business," is the largest gathering of state and Eastern Canadian provincial leaders in the Northeast.

Following presentations by offshore wind experts and industry representatives, the seminar will feature panel discussions among state and provincial officials from jurisdictions where initiatives are underway to develop offshore wind projects, with the aim of fostering a discussion between the public and private sectors about ways to overcome various challenges that offshore wind proposals, and legislative efforts, have encountered in several states.

Panelists will include representatives of the U.S. offshore wind industry, who will provide their perspectives on the most pressing issues that developers face at the state and federal levels.

There will also be presentations on recent U.S. Department of Energy analyses of the potential offered by the nation's ocean resources to provide a significant portion of the U.S.'s electricity mix, an update on the Atlantic Wind Connection backbone transmission project designed to accelerate offshore wind development, and a discussion of the New England Wind Integration Study.

A roundtable conversation among officials from Delaware, Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ontario will enumerate some of the state and provincial policies that have been proposed, and implemented, to promote offshore wind. The roundtable will also focus on concerns about the high cost of offshore wind power compared with regular grid power, and address environmental considerations and other reservations voiced by constituents concerning the nascent industry.

"The development of an offshore wind industry offers the potential to revive the shipbuilding industry in Ontario and throughout the region, launch a lucrative manufacturing sector for turbines and other wind components and offer important environmental and energy-security advantages over the region's current reliance on fossil fuels," said Moen.

A September 2010 report from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory says that the nation has abundant offshore wind development potential close to major U.S. cities. The report found that offshore wind power could provide 54 gigawatts of electricity by 2030 - and that such ocean-based capacity would generate an estimated $200 billion in new economic activity and create more than 43,000 permanent, well-paid technical jobs in manufacturing, construction, engineering, operations and maintenance.

NREL estimates that overall, the U.S. has the potential to produce more than 4,000 GW of power from offshore wind, four times the nation's total electric generating capacity from all sources, based on 2008 figures.

The U.S. leads the world in installed, land-based wind capacity, but to date, no ocean-based projects have been developed.

Nine offshore wind projects, representing 2,322 megawatts (MW) of power, have "advanced significantly" in the permitting and development process, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Three of the proposed projects have signed power purchase agreements, with NRG Bluewater Wind in Delaware, Deepwater Wind in Rhode Island, and Cape Wind in Massachusetts. Other states where projects are in various stages of development or consideration include Maine, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

Globally, there is roughly 3,000 MW of offshore wind capacity, the lion's share of it in European waters.

For more information about 2011 CSG/ERC's Annual Meeting, and to access information on its policy areas, please visit www.csgeast.org.

CSG/ERC is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, founded in 1937, serving legislative, executive and judicial branch officials in the 11 Northeastern states, from Maine to Maryland, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Eastern Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Quebec.

Its mission is to provide a forum for new ideas; promote successful state policy innovations; advocate multi-jurisdictional problem solving; advocate regional interests at the federal level; offer leadership training and technical assistance; serve as a catalyst for public/private dialog; and forecast policy trends affecting the region.

About Ontario, Canada

Ontario is Canada's economic powerhouse, accounting for 37% of its GDP, 39% of the country's population and 38% of its exported goods.¹ With its financial and advisory support for businesses of all sizes, funding programs to encourage innovation and R&D, and the most educated workforce in the G7, Ontario has become Canada's largest economy and one of the top 10 largest economies in North America.

The United States is Ontario's largest trading partner with over 75% of goods produced in Ontario heading to the U.S and 57% of imports into Ontario coming from the U.S. For more information, please visit www.investinontario.com and www.ontarioexports.com.

CSG/ERC
Michael Paul Jackson, 646-383-5713
Communications Manager
cell: 646-397-8069
mjackson@csg.org
or
For the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade:
BlissPR
Lindsey Schober, (312)-577-0043
Senior Account Executive
Lindsey@blisspr.com