Three Massachusetts Unions Endorse Offshore Wind Project

BOSTON, Mass.—Three labor unions announced Apr. 18 that they are backing the Bay State Wind partnership’s bid to build an electricity-generating wind farm 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Utility Workers Union of America, and the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers said they supported Bay State Wind out of the three bidders because it has agreed it would hire Massachusetts workers to build and operate the project. IBEW International vice president Michael Monahan said that would provide both clean, cost-effective energy and good local jobs.
Thomas Brostrøm, president of North America Ørsted, a Danish wind-farm company that is a partner in Bay State Wind, said the agreements with the three unions would “allow us to guarantee meaningful work for some of the Commonwealth’s most skilled workers, providing training for new expertise and technologies in the burgeoning renewable energy sector.” A 2016 state law requires power companies to buy at least 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power in the next decade. The state will pick the winning bidder with advice from utility companies and an independent evaluator. Its decision may come in May. Read more