Feds fast-track mid-Atlantic offshore wind energy

[phantom power]

The U.S. Department of Energy also said it intends to spend more than $50 million over the next five years to speed development of the farms and help meet President Barack Obama's goal of generating 80 percent of the nation's electricity from clean energy sources by 2035.

The Interior Department said the four sites it has identified as ripe for development are off the coasts of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.

Environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the Ocean Conservancy lauded the Obama administration for moving quickly to develop wind power, while some Republicans said the president's efforts don't go far enough to address the nation's energy problems.

"It's unwise for the Obama administration to exclusively focus on developing offshore wind in the Atlantic while ignoring the need for expanded oil and natural gas production," House Natural Resources Committee chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said in a statement.

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