Maryland's and Delaware's governors have called on the Obama administration to buy into developing wind projects off the mid-Atlantic coast.

In a letter to President Obama, Govs. Martin O'Malley and Jack Markell asked him to have federal agencies join with their states in committing to buy one gigawatt of electricity generated by offshore wind turbines.  O'Malley already has pledged Maryland state government to buy 55 megawatts, and the Delaware Public Service Commission is in for 200 megawatts.  That leaves 750 megawatts for the feds.

Why a gigawatt?   It's not just because it's a cool-sounding word for a lot of juice.  Malcolm Woolf, Maryland's energy czar, says it'll improve the region's chances of attracting jobs in building industrial wind turbines. 

"If we can get a gigawatt of sales here, the manufacturers have told us that they'll start building factories here," Woolf said.  The governors' letter suggested the industry might grow to 15,000 or 20,000 jobs.

That's a lot of jobs, but it would take a lot of wind turbines, too.  The project proposed off Delaware's coast is for up to 450 megawatts' worth of generating capacity.  

This would mean basically doubling down on an industry that has yet to put a single turbine off the coast.  Of course, that's in large part because of the caution (or timidity, depending on your point of view) of regulators and politicians who are confronted with objections from waterfront property owners, fishing interests and others concerned about the potential impacts on scenic views, ocean habitat - and sacred places, in the case of Native Americans in Massachusetts who've been fighting the Capewind project.

(Turbine near Great Yarmouth, United Kingdom; photo by Bloomberg)