Jul. 24--Envision a half-dozen towers for collecting data miles off the Jersey Shore in areas that could someday have dozens of wind turbines churning out emission-free power.

By year's end, the U.S. Minerals Management Service hopes to give sea bottom leases to three companies that want to put six meteorological towers off New Jersey, officials said Wednesday.

And the towers could be erected next spring, said Maureen A. Bornholdt, program manager in the mineral services' Office of Alternative Energy Programs in Herndon, Va.

"I see nothing wrong with it," said Bob O'Connor, 72, who lives on Ocean Avenue in Belmar. "If it's going to help people, good. Get it done."

"I support offshore drilling, offshore windmills" and liquefied natural gas facilities off the Jersey Shore, said O'Connor, who is semiretired. "We've got an energy crisis here."

But Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, a Sandy Hook-based coastal conservation group, said the Minerals Management Service is "selecting sites before the environmental-impact assessments are done or any regulatory framework to protect the ocean is in place."

Bluewater Wind New Jersey Energy LLC is interested in leasing three sites, Winergy Power LLC is interested in two and Fishermen's Energy of New Jersey is interested in one, minerals service officials said during a conference call with reporters.

The companies have proposed putting one meteorological tower in each lease area, Bornholdt said.

A lease area covers 9 square miles of sea floor, and a lease would cost $3 an acre annually.

New Jersey has begun $4.5 million in environmental studies in waters from Seaside Park to Stone Harbor and up to 23 miles off the coast. A draft final report is due in September 2009, according to information on the state Department of Environmental Protection Web site.

"Frankly, we would like to push this as fast as we can," Minerals Management Service director Randall Luthi said. "The country needs sources of energy," and needs data to be collected.

"We've got some catch-up to do," he said.

The Minerals Management Service regulates domestic energy production on the outer continental shelf off the U.S., according to its Web site.

The minerals service would issue limited leases under an "interim policy" to allow alternative energy data collection and technology testing on the outer continental shelf, according to a statement on the Web.

The limited leases envisioned under the policy will last for five years and "will not convey any right or priority for commercial development," the statement says.

The leasing process will involve "thorough environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act and related laws" and close consultation with federal, state and local government agencies, the statement says.