Saving Seafood

Offshore wind fight lining lawyers’ pockets

Bethany Hooper, OC-Today-Dispatch

November 7, 2025 — With a lawsuit still in court, Ocean City continues to rack up legal bills in its fight against offshore wind, with more than $350,000 spent so far.

City Manager Terry McGean said the city has paid $332,815 in legal fees to its outside legal counsel, the Washington, D.C. firm Marzulla Law, which was hired last year to fight the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of the US Wind project off Maryland’s coast. Another $24,372 has been paid to the city solicitor’s law firm, Ayres, Jenkins, Gordy & Almand.

“These are all paid from the city general fund,” he said.

Last year, the Town of Ocean City announced it had retained Marzulla Law – a firm known for its expertise in environmental and property rights litigation – to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and National Marine Fisheries Service, or BOEM. The lawsuit, which lists several co-plaintiffs, challenges the agency’s process for approving the US Wind project, which would involve the construction of 114 wind turbines starting roughly 10 miles off the coast of Ocean City.