8929-17 Support Icebreaker Wind Project

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RESOLUTIONNO. 8929 -17 BY:Anderson, Bullock, Marx, Nowlin, O'Leary, O'Malley. A RESOLUTION to take effect immediately provided it receives the affirmative vote of at least five members of Council, or otherwise to take effect and be in force after the earliest pe- riod allowed by law, expressing the City of Lakewood's support for the Icebreaker Wind Project in Lake Erie. WHEREAS, the Icebreaker wind faun will be the first freshwater offshore wind project in North America and only the second offshore wind project in the United States; and WHEREAS, Icebreaker Wind is a 20.7- megawatt, six - turbine project that will be located eight to 10 miles off the shore of Cleveland, Ohio, and seven miles off the shore of Lakewood; and WHEREAS, the owners and developers of Icebreaker Wind are headquartered in Cleve- land, Ohio; and WHEREAS, there is a critical need to develop more domestic clean energy to protect our environment and create new industries in the region; and WHEREAS, the Great Lakes region has the technical potential to provide over 700 giga- watts of offshore wind generation; and WHEREAS, Icebreaker will be a small demonstration project that will allow us to ad- vance the development of this huge clean energy resource in Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes; and WHEREAS, the Icebreaker Wind project alone will create over 500 jobs and provide $168 million in local economic impact over the project life; and WHEREAS, Icebreaker is committed to hiring workers from the local labor force and sourcing materials from the region, including from the City of Lakewood, to the greatest extent possible; and WHEREAS, the vast offshore wind industry potential in Northeast Ohio would provide thousands of jobs and significantly boost the local economy, including that of Lakewood; and WHEREAS, Cleveland's air quality is among the worst in the nation, which air pollution leads to increases in respiratory disease including asthma, heart attacks, and premature death; and clean energy will help improve the region's air quality; and WHEREAS, Ohio depends on fossil fuels for over 80 percent of its electric energy mix, which over - dependence is fueling catastrophic climate change, whereas clean renewable energy accounts for less than three percent of Ohio's electric energy mix; and