Wind Farms Jonesing for Long-Legged Ships Aground by Maritime Law

The U.S. offshore wind industry is fretting that a century-old maritime law will make offshore wind farm construction more costly in the U.S. than it is overseas and require risky turbine shipping methods for America’s first large offshore wind projects.

It is going to take giant ships with legs that extend hundreds of feet to the ocean floor to lift and install the offshore wind turbines planned for the East Coast. Besides being hundreds of feet tall, each is expected to have blades as long as a football field.

But there is no long-legged vessel in the U.S. big enough ...