About two-thirds of offshore ocean areas eyed for potential wind farm development are off limits for the spinning turbines, according to a federal panel mapping North Carolina's ocean waters.
The federal panel won't issue a formal recommendation until this summer, but after a second meeting last week in Raleigh, the panel has issued provisional maps that show much of the state's ocean waters as being unsuitable for offshore wind farms. The task force will likely meet again in June.
The task force has X'd out large swaths of the Atlantic Ocean for military operations, fish habitats and bird habitats. The panel has scaled back an area of 10,564 square miles down to 3,679 miles, and the work is still ongoing.
Still to be considered are concerns from the National Parks Service.
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