A handful of Great Lakes states, including New York, has reached an accord [1] with the Obama administration to allow faster development of offshore wind farms, provided state and local governments approve them.

Gov. Cuomo supports the agreement, saying that the Great Lakes have the potential to provide clean energy and create jobs.The agreement [2] revives the massive wind turbine project in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario that the state put on the back burner [3] five months ago. That plan called for 150 offshore wind turbines in Western New York.

The agreement indicates each megawatt of offshore wind power generated could produce up to 20 jobs, and further states that New York has the potential for at least 143,000 megawatts of wind power production off its Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean coastlines.

In an editorial [4], the Buffalo News added a sense of urgency to the development of clean-energy sources: "It's certainly true that wind power is a minuscule part of our energy picture and requires subsidies to be economically feasible while the technology is improving. But it's also true that if we don't start pushing alternative energy sources, we'll never be able to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Wind power is one part of the green energy discussion, and the deal on offshore wind farms is a good place to start."

New York, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania, signed the agreement; three others, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin, have not signed on, but have the right to do so at a later time.