Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo | August 28, 2019 | Star-Ledger |
In July, on a beautifully sunny, clear day, I found myself on a Rhode Island ferry boat with 60 others, headed out 15 miles into the Atlantic Ocean to see America’s first offshore wind project off of Block Island. What first appeared as specks on the horizon grew larger as we approached. Picture the turbines near the casinos in Atlantic City, but much bigger, on massive steel foundations in the middle of the ocean. As a union electrician with over 33 years of experience in the trades, I couldn’t help but marvel at the engineering that went into this project. From the top of the turbine to the point where it meets the water, each turbine at the Block Island Wind Farm is taller than the Washington Monument.
But what I really saw on this tour was the future of New Jersey jobs. In June Gov. Phil Murphy announced that a Danish company, Ørsted, will develop Ocean Wind, an 1,100 megawatts offshore wind project located 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. Our wind turbines will be big, too. Big enough to power 600,000 homes and generate 15,000 local jobs, according to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.
As an Assemblyman, and as a union leader, I keep my finger on the pulse of the state’s economic climate to ensure our workers can compete for the jobs of tomorrow. New Jersey has more than a dozen international building trades unions and county councils, which represent over 150,000 New Jerseyans.
Read the full article on NJ.com.