Earlier this spring I wrote about the new Deepwater Wind Block Island offshore wind farm breaking "ground" off the coast of Rhode Island. Just this past weekend, the first foundation for the first wind turbine was placed into the water! My colleagues Aaron Mair (Sierra Club President), and Drew Grande (Beyond Coal campaign representative) were there in person to watch it all happen.

They were joined by a who's-who list of elected officials and business leaders who know that clean energy, like wind power, is the way forward for Rhode Island and the rest of the U.S.

(From L to R: Deepwater CEO Jeff Grybowsku, Aaron Mair, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator Jack Reed, Interior secretary Sally Jewell, and Representative Jim Langevin.)

"Rhode Island is the first state with steel in the water for wind," said Drew. "And more importantly, everyone from Deepwater CEO Jeff Grybowski to Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo spoke about how this project was the start of a new industry that's ready to expand from Rhode Island."

This clean energy project is another great move in the right direction for New England, Drew noted. The region leads on coal retirements and clean energy innovation. In Massachusetts alone, more than 850 megawatts of solar power has been installed. The solar industry employs more than 12,000 people in the state as well. And according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, offshore wind leases offer a potential 8,000 megawatts of renewable energy to southern New England.

Sierra Club Aaron Mair told me he loved his time on the packed ship hearing from officials and seeing the project being constructed, that it is a beautiful sign of what's happening now and what's to come for clean energy in the U.S.

"We're not spilling oil. We're spilling air. We're spilling sun," said Aaron. "This is much more environmentally sound than any form of energy production."