OCEAN CITY OPPOSES PROPOSED WIND FARM PROJECT

Offshore Wind Update 9.16.24

Mid Atlantic Region New Lease Areas:

Call Area 1: BOEM has now awarded two new lease areas in our vicinity. One is north of us off the Delaware coast, the other is off the Virginia coast. The closest point of either lease area to Ocean City is over 33 miles. Ocean City formally commented requesting that turbine sizes be restricted in both areas such that the top of the nacelle is not visible from Ocean City. BOEM Responded that the comment was not warranted because the lease process Environmental Assessment only looks at the impacts of issuing the lease (survey work) and not impacts of the actual construction. (note this contradicts statement made by state delegates at the 1294 hearing). I wrote back in disagreement stating that our experience with the current lease is once it is established, it is too late to make changes to the location or size of the turbines. The Delaware lease area has been awarded to Norwegian Firm Equinor Wind. Governor Moore is now on record supporting even more lease areas via a June 7 2024 MOU between the State and BOEM.

Call Area 2: On the week of August 29th, BOEM released a new potential Call area for the Central Atlantic. Call areas are the first step in the lease process. This new call area is virtually the entire ocean starting 3 miles out and extending approximately 60 miles offshore for the entire mid Atlantic (NJ to NC). There was a virtual task force meeting last week and the Town firmly stated our position opposing any visible turbines. Many others also spoke in opposition to the call area. There is a public information meeting On Sept 24th at the convention center starting at 5PM. The format it will be similar to the meeting held at OC Elementary, ie info boards, ability to ask questions of subject matter experts and submit written comments but no public speaking option. A virtual meeting will be help on Oct 2. Go to BOEM website to register for either event.

Orsted Project (Skipjack Wind, located off southern Delaware):

Orsted has formally notified the PSC that they are relinquishing their rights to receive payment for their Maryland ORECs and will no longer develop their project under the terms of the PSC order that awarded said ORECs. At this point their project is suspended. Orsted representatives have stated that they will be submitting a COP to BOEM this summer and plan on developing the lease area using other funding sources. They do not have a firm construction timeline but estimate it will be after 2030.

US Wind:

Federal Level: BOEM issued the Record of Decision for the US Wind project on Sept 9, 2024. The ROD selected Alternate B. Alternative B is the full US Wind project, up 114 turbines as close as 10.7 miles from shore and up to 938’ tall. We are now taking the necessary steps to file suit against BOEM.

At the Maryland State level, three additional permit applications from US Wind are under review as follows:

Tidal Wetlands permits to rebuild docks and piers at the West Ocean City Harbor for their operations and maintenance facility. An initial public hearing was held by MDE on March 25th at Wor-Wic. The permit application was amended by US Wind roughly 24 hours before the hearing negating many of the comments I and others had prepared. Regardless, I spoke in opposition on behalf of Ocean City as did Weston Young on behalf of the County. The vast majority of those in attendance also spoke in opposition to the project. MDE has apporved the application and it now goes to the Maryland Board of Public Works. The DPW accepted written comments through 8/22 and the City commented in opposition. The permit must be approved at a Board of Public Works Meeting the date for that has not been set.

Air Quality Permit for construction activity (primarily ship exhaust) and operation activity (ship exhaust and 4 generators). A public information meeting was held by MDE on June 13, 2024 at the Convention Center. I spoke in opposition to the permit on behalf of the City, Bob Mitchell did the same on behalf of the County. Senator Carozza and Delegate Hartman also spoke in opposition. After MDE reviews the application (which is hundreds of pages), they will make an initial determination, then hold a formal public hearing and accept public comments. No additional action has occurred.

Coastal Zone Consistency Permit related to the Operations and Maintenance Facility in the harbor. A public Hearing was held by DNR on June27th in the Convention Center. The application is currently under review.

Finally, as we feared US Wind and some in the General Assembly were successful in leveraging the withdrawal of Orsted as an excuse to increase the size and subsidies for the US Wind project. House Bill 1294 and the companion Senate bill allows the Public Service Commission to renegotiate the size, schedule, and subsides for qualified offshore renewable energy projects with current ORECs awards. US Wind is the only project that meets that qualification. Despite our testimony in opposition at both committee hearings, the bill received a favorable report from both Committees. The bill passed the both the House and Senate along party lines and was signed by the Governor. The next step will be through the Public Service Commission. That has not yet been scheduled.

In Delaware US Wind has initiated the permit process to secure a cable landfall location at 3Rs Beach. The initial hearing at Sussex County was held to approve the project, however no action was taken. The project also needs approval from DENREC.

Mid Atlantic Region New Lease Areas:

BOEM has identified two new potential lease areas in our vicinity. One is north of us off the Delaware coast and the other is off the Virginia coast. The closest point of either lease area to Ocean City is over 33 miles. Ocean City formally commented requesting that turbine sizes be restricted in both areas such that the top of the nacelle is not visible from Ocean City. BOEM Responded that the comment was not warranted because the lease process Environmental Assessment only looks at the impacts of issuing the lease (survey work) and not impacts of the actual construction. (note this contradicts statement made by state delegates at the 1294 hearing). The City wrote back in disagreement stating that our experience with the current lease is once it is established, it is too late to make changes to the location or size of the turbines. Governor Moore is now on record supporting more lease areas via a June 7, 2024 MOU between the State and BOEM. However, no lease areas off the Maryland Coast are currently included in the upcoming lease bid process.

Orsted Project (Skipjack Wind, located off southern Delaware):

Orsted has formally notified the PSC that they are relinquishing their rights to receive payment for their Maryland ORECs and will no longer develop their project under the terms of the PSC order that awarded said ORECs. At this point their project is suspended. Orsted representatives have stated that they will be submitting a COP to BOEM this summer and plan on developing the lease area using other funding sources. They do not have a firm construction timeline but estimate it will be after 2030.

US Wind:

The US Wind COP and comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement are now under review by BOEM. Based on our consultant’s report, the City submitted 242 comments on the DEIS. The comments addressed all aspects of the DEIS from impacts to marine life, birds, navigation, fishing, our viewshed, and our economy. Our comments opposed the project in its entirety and requested that BOEM adopt the “No Build” alternative. BOEM must now review and address all comments received on the DEIS, they will then issue a final EIS and ultimately what is known as a Record of Decision which is the document that approves or denies the project. BOEM has stated that they expect to release the ROD in mid to late 3rd quarter of 2024.

At the Maryland State level, three additional permit applications from US Wind are under review as follows:

1. Tidal Wetlands permits to rebuild docks and piers at the West Ocean City Harbor for their operations and maintenance facility: An initial public hearing was held by MDE on March 25, 2024 at Wor-Wic Community College. The permit application was amended by US Wind roughly 24 hours before the hearing negating many of the comments the City and others had prepared. Regardless, the City spoke in opposition as well as Worcester County. The vast majority of those in attendance also spoke in opposition to the project. Subsequent to the meeting, MDE extended the comment period through June 7, 2024 due to the last-minute amendments. Comments were submitted from the City.
2. Air Quality Permit for construction activity (primarily ship exhaust) and operation activity (ship exhaust and 4 generators): A public information meeting was held by MDE on June 13, 2024 at the Convention Center. The City spoke in opposition to the permit as well as Worcester County. Senator Carozza and Delegate Hartman also spoke in opposition. After MDE reviews the application, they will make an initial determination and then hold a formal public hearing and accept public comments.
3. Coastal Zone Consistency Permit related to the Operations and Maintenance Facility in the harbor: A public hearing was held by DNR on June 27, 2024 at the Convention Center. The application is currently under review and I will submit comments on behalf of the City.

Finally, US Wind and the General Assembly were successful in leveraging the withdrawal of Orsted as an excuse to increase the size and subsidies for the US Wind project. House Bill 1294 and the companion Senate Bill allows the Public Service Commission to renegotiate the size, schedule, and subsides for qualified offshore renewable energy projects with current ORECs awards. US Wind is the only project that meets that qualification. Despite the City’s testimony in opposition at both committee hearings, the bill received a favorable report from both committees. The bill passed both the House and Senate along party lines and was signed by the Governor. The next step will be through the Public Service Commission.

Ocean City continues in the battle of the proposed construction of wind turbines off our coast. As of January 2024, The Town of Ocean City does not support any turbines built off our coast. As of January 2024, US Wind is the only company with proposed plans to build turbines off the coast of Ocean City.

Orsted:

In January 2024, Orsted announced that they are repositioning the Skipjack Wind project and has withdrawn from the Maryland Public Service Commission Orders approving the Skipjack 1 and 2 projects. They are however, continuing their Federal Permit process to construct the turbines and Ocean City will continue to monitor and comment on that process as needed.

US Wind:

In July 2023, the Mayor and Council approved a contract with SLR International to review the US Wind Construction and Operations Plan (COP) and prepare comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). On October 6, 2023, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the US Wind Project. BOEM conducted two in-person and two virtual public meetings, one at Ocean City Elementary and the other in DE. The meetings were simply workshops and the only way the public could offer comments was to talk to a court reporter. Many of the so-called subject matter experts were simply consultants with limited knowledge of the project.

At that time, our consultant SLR, switched gears from reviewing the COP to reviewing the DEIS. SLR submitted a report on the DEIS with 279 comments. The City incorporated those comments along with some additional concerns and these were formally submitted to BOEM with copies to our state and federal representatives on November 17. The comments addressed all aspects of the DEIS from impacts to marine life, birds, navigation, fishing, our viewshed, and our economy. The Mayor and City Manager also provided verbal comments to the open house court reporter and at the virtual hearing. Our comments opposed the project in its entirety and requested that BOEM adopt the “No Build” alternative. BOEM must now review and address all comments received on the DEIS, they will then issue a final DEIS and ultimately what is known as a Record of Decision (ROD) which is the document that approves or denies the project. BOEM has stated that they expect to release the ROD in mid to late third quarter of 2024.

On January 20, 2024, Congressman Andy Harris, Congressmen Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith from New Jersey, held a congressional hearing at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center in Ocean City. The hearing consisted of expert testimony and questioning. Approximately 500 citizens attended.

For several years, Ocean City has worked diligently to ensure the proposed construction of wind turbines off our shoreline is done responsibly. Unfortunately, as the size of the proposed wind turbines continues to grow, the foreign-owned companies developing the projects further attempt to push these giant structures closer and closer to our beach.

Ocean City’s concerns over how these structures, now three and half times taller than the tallest building in Ocean City, will destroy our beautiful ocean views have been ignored. Last January, at the request of the Mayor and Council, the Maryland Public Service Commission held a public hearing at the Ocean City Convention Center. This was the first time that any of the government agencies in charge of regulating these projects held a public hearing within our city limits. Thanks to the hundreds of Ocean City residents and property owners who came to that meeting to express their concerns about these projects, the Public Service Commission directed each developer to return for an evidentiary hearing on the impacts of the proposed larger wind turbines.

In May of 2020, the first evidentiary hearing was held for the Skipjack Wind Project, located in Delaware but subsidized by Maryland ratepayers and visible from Ocean City. Although Ocean City’s ultimate goal of “unseen” turbines was not achieved, the developer did agree to move the project from 19 miles offshore to 22 miles offshore and reduce the number of turbines from 15 to 10-12.

Of much greater concern to Ocean City is the US Wind project. This project is located directly off our coast stretching the full length of Ocean City. Previously, US Wind had publicly stated that their closest turbines would be 17 miles offshore. We know now that US Wind plans to install turbines much closer than that, as close as 13 miles, and they too are planning to use the supersized 853-foot tall turbines. US Wind has not yet gone before the Maryland Public Service Commission to request to use these huge wind turbines. If and when they do, Ocean City will strongly oppose their placement so close to shore.

There is a simple solution to this problem which would allow the development of clean offshore wind energy for Maryland without destroying our beautiful ocean views. The solution is for the turbines to be moved farther east.

The location of these projects is determined by the Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) through a leasing process. Right now only one lease area exists off the coast of Maryland. It starts less than 13 miles from Ocean City and extends out to approximately 21 miles from our shore. A new federal lease area could easily be established further offshore. Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks both have lease areas starting 25 miles offshore, and Virginia Beach already has two turbines located 27 miles from shore. There is no reason that a Maryland project could not be moved out just as far.

Not only would a different offshore lease area benefit Ocean City, but it would also significantly improve the safety of offshore marine traffic by moving the lease area away from vital shipping and barge lanes. More importantly, it would move the project out of the Shuster Horseshoe Crab Sanctuary. This sanctuary was established to protect the spawning grounds of the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab.

Why is the lowly horseshoe crab so important? As you may have recently read and seen on the news, the blood from the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab is used to test the safety of vaccines. The Shuster sanctuary is considered so vital that no one is allowed to catch a horseshoe crab in that area. Yet not a single study has looked at the impact of offshore wind turbines or their high voltage cables on the horseshoe crab.

Ocean City believes in clean energy. Over 50 percent of the Ocean City government’s electric supply comes from renewable sources. However, we also believe, like any other gigantic construction project, the development of renewable energy must be done responsibly. Simply calling something “green” does not make it so.

Once these projects are built, it will be too late to change them. Please call, email, or write to your state or federal elected officials and ask them to support the creation of a new Maryland offshore renewable energy lease area at least 30 miles from shore. We have one chance to get this right and now is the time to do it.

With the possibility of an offshore wind farm obstructing Ocean City’s natural Atlantic view, resort officials are working consistently to make sure the quest for alternate energy does not impact the horizon that residents and property owners’ treasure.  Currently, two companies are seeking permission to install wind turbines in the ocean directly off the Ocean City coastline. The proposal includes a total of 139 turbines, which stand 600 to 800 feet tall, located as close as 13 miles from the Ocean City shoreline. Photographic renderings show that these structures will be clearly visible from the beach and more visible from higher story buildings.

The Ocean City Mayor and City Council have openly supported clean energy, including offshore wind, however; have expressed serious concern for these projects to be done in a responsible manner. “With the construction of 139 windmills off Ocean City’s coast, each structure more than twice the height of the tallest building in Ocean City and blades the length of a football field, there is no questions they will be visible from our shoreline especially when they are lit up at night,” stated Mayor Rick Meehan. “It is a threat to our environment, our property values, our economy, and the future of Ocean City. It is simply irresponsible.”

The Town of Ocean City is asking that these projects be moved further offshore in order to keep the pristine ocean view that residents and visitors know and love.  There is no questions that this is feasible, as wind farms proposed in Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks are all located more than 25 miles of the coast. The companies developing the Ocean City, Maryland project are opposing the town’s efforts to move the wind farms because it will increase their costs and could delay construction.

“We understand the time and money that is potentially involved in moving the wind farms, but those concerns do not justify placing Ocean City’s future at risk,” Meehan continued. “These turbines are permanent installations. We only have one chance to make this right and if that means the projects get delayed or the developers make a little less profit, it will be money and time well spent to protect our Town.”