DURHAM, N.H. (AP) Several states are expressing support for offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine.

New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine officials say the renewable resource could help their states meet clean energy goals and prove a boon to the economy. The support came Thursday at the first meeting of the Agenda for the Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force for the Gulf of Maine.

The group is led by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and will in the coming years hear from commercial fishermen, environmentalists and coastal communities before deciding on where leases would be allowed.