The Department of the Interior Monday will sell leases on sites for offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine next month. The sale will cover eight areas on the Outer Continental Shelf off Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. If fully developed, these areas have a potential capacity of approximately 13 gigawatts of clean offshore wind energy, which could power more than 4.5 million homes.

This comes even as a mixture of kooks, blinkered environmentalists and fossil-fuel interests is having some success slowing America’s very belated move into the fabulous energy source of offshore wind. Vineyard Wind, our first site being developed south of Martha’s Vineyard, didn’t help by having one of its blades break and wash up on the beach of rich people; that project is on pause while the accident is investigated.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says it “prioritized the avoidance of offshore fishing grounds, sensitive habitats, and existing and future vessel transit routes, while still retaining sufficient acreage to support the region’s offshore wind energy goals” in listing the Gulf of Maine sites.

Details along with a map of the lease areas can be found on the BOEM’s website.