Offshore Energy Modernization Act of 2025

The Offshore Energy Modernization Act of 2025 would overhaul how offshore renewable energy projects are planned, reviewed, and built on the outer continental shelf. Its core goals are to accelerate responsible offshore wind and other offshore renewables (wind, solar, wave, tidal) while strengthening environmental and cultural reviews, increasing domestic content and labor standards, and creating new federal programs and funds to manage costs, compensation, and coordination. Key elements include numeric permitting targets (30 gigawatts by 2030 and 50 gigawatts by 2035), the creation of an Offshore Power Administration, and a new Offshore Renewable Energy Compensation Fund to pay for verified claims and mitigation related to offshore projects. The bill also expands stakeholder engagement, tribal consultation, and planning-area studies to better assess environmental and cultural impacts before leasing and permitting proceed, and it tightens governance and funding for permitting agencies. In short, the bill aims to speed up offshore renewable development in a way that seeks to ensure local benefits, protect ecosystems and cultural resources, and provide funding and mechanisms to address damages or losses associated with offshore projects. It would also alter how leases are awarded, require domestic-made materials and project labor agreements for major construction, and create new accountability and transparency measures (including where court challenges may be heard).