Opponents urge delay to Ocean City wind project, citing pending compensation and lawsuit

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State and local officials who represent Ocean City are again calling for Gov. Wes Moore and others to delay plans for more than 100 wind turbines off the Maryland coast.

UPDATE: MD board approves pier expansion needed for Eastern Shore wind project

Baltimore-based US Wind is seeking a tidal wetlands license to replace a pier, but advocates for the local fishing industry and opponents of the project more broadly, including the Ocean City officials, have claimed that doing so would be devastating for the local commercial fishing industry.

“We’re protecting our way of life,” state Sen. Mary Beth Carozza, a Republican whose district includes Ocean City, said in a phone interview.

The town government and various business, tourism and environmental groups have also sued the federal government in an attempt to block the project.

While the White House and the Moore administration have touted the project as a major step toward clean energy production goals, opponents have argued that it will lower real estate values, tourism, wildlife and the local tax base while increasing noise pollution and reducing water and air quality.

US Wind developers have proposed installing up to 114 wind turbines and up to four offshore substations in a lease area that ranges from about 8.7 nautical miles off the Maryland coast to roughly 9 nautical miles from Sussex County, Delaware, at its closest points to shore, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Once completed, the project could generate up to two gigawatts of renewable energy for the region and power more than 600,000 homes.

The state Board of Public Works, composed of the governor, comptroller and treasurer, on Wednesday is expected to give the OK for US Wind to replace a pier in West Ocean City that local fisherman rely on to offload their catches.

US Wind intends to use the pier for water access near a planned operations and maintenance facility.

The company, which is a subsidiary of Italy-based Renexia SpA, is seeking a state license from the board to build a concrete pier and steel bulkhead in a protected tidal wetlands area.

In a recent letter to the spending board, Carozza contended that US Wind’s plans to reconstruct and widen the pier would take away the only Ocean City locations where commercial fishermen can offload their catches, dealing a blow to a major economic driver for the town and the broader Eastern Shore region.

Carozza wrote that the change would “effectively eliminate commercial fishing” in the area.

Commercial fishermen will still be able to work in the area, Mike Luisi, who leads monitoring and assessments of fisheries for the DNR, wrote in a text message. Luisi, though, said that replacing the landing spot and displacing sellers is sure to make it more difficult for companies to offload their fish for sale.

A state wetlands administrator who reviewed the plans also determined that current boating activity in the area “is not expected to be disrupted,” meeting documents state.

In an attempt to limit harm to Ocean City’s commercial fishing industry, US Wind is negotiating a compensation package for local commercial and charter fishing operators and shoreside businesses who rely on their catches. DNR officials are leading the compensation discussions for the state, with input from members of the fishing industry.

US Wind has committed to contribute money for direct losses and impacts to the industry, for companies to buy or upgrade navigation equipment and get training to improve fishing in and around the project area, and for compensating businesses that rely on commercial fisheries, according to the DNR.

The total value of the compensation package is not yet clear.

Recent discussions have reportedly centered on an amount between $3 million and $4 million, though that is the estimate for a portion of one of the forms of compensation, a DNR spokesman wrote in an email, adding that not all forms of compensation have been discussed and that the total value is expected to be higher.

The West Ocean City Harbor generated $7 million in 2019, according to state meeting documents.

Carozza and others have called for the Board of Public Works to postpone its tidal wetlands license approval until after the compensation package is completed — which is expected early next year — and the federal lawsuit against US Wind is resolved.

The Board of Public Works has already delayed its tidal wetlands license approval by a month. Officials were initially expected to give the OK in mid-October, but the vote was pushed back to allow more time for the public to weigh in.

With the item back on the board’s agenda, it appears unlikely that there will be another delay. With some exceptions, there is generally an expectation that the board will approve the items on its agenda.

(This article has been updated to include the most up-to-date estimate for how many homes the US Wind project could power.)