Van Hollen, Olszewski hail offshore wind as job creator, economic driver

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Lawmakers, advocates, Maryland business owners and union representatives gathered in Baltimore Friday to reaffirm their support for the fiscal and ecological benefits of the US Wind project President Donald Trump has attempted to thwart off of the coast of Ocean City. 

“We cannot let that happen, because offshore wind is a vital part of making sure that we address the major priorities in the United States of America,” U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said at a news conference Friday morning. “… When we move toward renewable energy, we’re not only bringing down costs and creating more jobs, but we’re also helping protect our health and our environment.”

The Trump administration has been hostile to offshore wind, canceling a $47 million grant secured for workforce development at Sparrows Point and attempting to stop the Maryland project altogether.

“The good news is that US Wind and all the other partners are moving forward anyway,” Van Hollen said, adding that Trump’s opposition is a “tip of the hat to the Big Oil guys.”

Van Hollen and Rep. Johnny Olszewski, a Democrat, joined state delegates, business leaders and advocates in supporting the project poised to plant 114 wind turbines 10 miles off of the coast of Ocean City. According to Van Hollen, the installation of the turbines would provide 530 jobs at the Sparrows Point Steel facility alone — “the same site where Bethlehem Steel was at a time when it was the largest steel mill in the country.”

Mike McHale, the president of the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said he could recall when thousands of industrial jobs, including those at Bethlehem Steel, were slashed over the past several decades. 

He said that offshore wind would regenerate the job market for his members and others in building trades, and that his union “cannot be more excited” about the future of offshore wind.

“That will be work for a bunch of our members … electricians, carpenters, boilermakers, steamfitters and then other spinoff jobs that come to other folks in our labor community,” McHale said. “These projects will give union building trades — especially this local union — the ability to offer more of our neighbors and fellow citizens the same life-changing opportunity I was given way back in 1985.” 

Olszewski said he had “a front row seat” to the decline of the steel industry during his childhood.

“For generations, Sparrows Point powered American industry,” Olszewski said. “Today, it stands ready to help power America’s clean energy future.”

Beyond the Baltimore region, Jared Schablein, the chair of Shore Progress, said the project will bring well-paying jobs to families living in poverty on the Eastern Shore. 

He called it one of the “greatest opportunities” to breach the region in decades.

“This project injects new life into our local workforce by bringing real jobs, real investment and real hope into my community,” Schablein said. ”It’s about making sure the next generation of Shore kids don’t have to move away to find opportunities or live in the same endless cycle of poverty that too many Eastern Shore folks currently live in.”

Van Hollen also noted that the project will lower energy costs for ratepayers, saying that it’s projected to power 600,000 households as the state accepts the reality of artificial intelligence data centers.

“This is a simple question of supply and demand, right?” Van Hollen said. “As demand for electricity goes up, if you don’t generate additional supply, that puts pressure on prices and offshore wind is … a great source — if we can even expand it — of additional power for our homes.”

According to Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul Pinsky, offshore wind will help Maryland march closer to its goal of 100% carbon-free electricity. 

Citing a study his agency conducted last year, Maryland needs to generate 9.6 gigawatts of energy to get there. This project would produce 1.6 gigawatts.

Del. Lorig Charkoudian, D-Montgomery, said that Trump is challenging the project because he and his “billionaire fossil fuel buddies” know that the high-capacity factor and efficiency of offshore wind is powerful.

“So in Maryland … we are going to continue to build offshore wind because it is key to having enough energy in the state, to having stable energy in the state, to having energy independence,” she said. 

To Charkoudian, there is a “beautiful poetry” in the fact that the project will regenerate industry around Sparrows Point, noting that it was at Bethlehem Steel where many ships were built that fought Nazism, fascism and authoritarianism during WWII.

“We won WWII because of the union workers who built those ships and because of all of the people who made sacrifices all over this world, and, once again, it is going to be union workers at Sparrows Point who are going to build the offshore wind turbines and the entire industry that is going to allow us to face down and win against the existential threat of climate change,” she said.