Saving Seafood

Delaware judge pauses US Wind appeal in wake of new law

December 3, 2025 — A compromise struck in June between Delaware lawmakers is now poised to end litigation challenging a Sussex County decision to block a controversial wind farm planned just off its shores.

The development follows a complex series of events that began a year ago when Sussex County decided to not approve a plan for a land-based substation that the 121-turbine wind farm needed to operate.

Not only did the wind farm developer – US Wind – appeal the decision to a Delaware court, but its Democratic supporters in the state legislature later introduced legislation to override and reverse the Sussex County substation denial.

The legislation led to a late-night standoff during the final hours of the legislative session that had Republicans threatening to block passage of Delaware’s capital budget. Ultimately, they  relented after Democrats agreed to postpone its effective date until early 2026.

On Monday, Delaware Superior Court Judge Mark Conner decided to pause the appeal in advance of the January effective date for the new law.

Conner explicitly pointed to the new law when ordering the pause.

Read the full article at Spotlight Delaware

Delaware AG enters Delmarva offshore wind farm fight

November 6, 2025 — Delaware’s Attorney General Kathy Jennings filed a motion in federal court in support of a company seeking to build a controversial wind farm off the Delmarva coast as it fends off a lawsuit preventing the project from moving forward.

US Wind, a Maryland-based company, hopes to build 121 turbines off the coast of Ocean City, Md., but has been targeted in the courts by both city leaders and the Trump administration. The project has been the subject of years of scrutiny in both southern Delaware and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Now, Jennings has stepped in, supporting US Wind’s efforts to stop the federal government from pulling its construction permits. If the Trump administration succeeds, it would effectively kill the project and bankrupt US Wind.

Last week, Jennings’ office filed a brief in the ongoing lawsuit challenging the legality of the proposed wind farm. She expressed support for the project and outlined the benefits it would have in Delaware.

Read the full article at News From The States

Stakeholders nearing update on Chesapeake Bay Agreement with multiple goals for fisheries

November 6, 2025 — Federal and state stakeholders are getting close on an update to the Chesapeake Bay Agreement – a voluntary accord that sets goals for conservation and clean water – laying out desired outcomes for some of the region’s fisheries.

First established in 1983, signatories to the agreement include the governments of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, New York, and the District of Columbia, along with the Chesapeake Bay Commission and federal agencies.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Delaware to host Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meeting this year

October 22, 2025 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 83rd Annual Meeting will be hosted by Delaware for the first time since 2008 starting Oct. 27 to Oct. 30. at the Hyatt Place Dewey Beach, on Coastal Highway.

DNREC encourages anglers, commercial fishers and conservationists to attend the meeting either in-person or virtually to provide input specifically for striped bass, menhaden and horseshoe crabs. Proposed changes will be voted on by ASMFC commissioners.

The Horseshoe Crab Management Board meeting is on Oct. 28 from 8:30 – 10 a.m., followed by the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board meeting, starting at 1:30 p.m. The Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board meeting will take place on Oct. 29 from 9:45 a.m.-noon and resuming from 1:30-5 p.m.

Read the full article at Coast TV

US Wind: Trump has plans to ‘kill outright offshore wind projects’

September 9, 2025 — US Wind, the Baltimore-based company behind plans to build a wind farm off the Delmarva coast, claims that a federal government plan to rescind permits for its project is a result of “political pressure” from President Donald Trump.

In a counterclaim filed Wednesday in response to a federal lawsuit originally brought by Ocean City, Md., attorneys for US Wind said the Trump administration’s efforts to rescind its permits “are inextricably tied to a wider plan to hinder or kill outright offshore wind projects.”

In the original lawsuit, Ocean City and a coalition of local groups challenged federal permits for offshore construction granted under the Biden administration. They claimed the approvals were part of a “coordinated effort” to bypass transparency and proper public notices to approve major offshore projects “as fast as possible.”

 In all, the competing claims are part of a volley of lawsuits that have plagued the ambitious energy project for more than a year.

Read the full article at Spotlight Delaware

Trump administration to revoke US Wind plans off Delaware coast

August 27, 2025 — The Trump administration announced in a legal filing last week that it intends to revoke construction approvals for a controversial planned wind farm off the Delaware-Maryland coast within the next three weeks.

The move comes after the administration has spent months opposing offshore wind power, and more recently honing that opposition against Baltimore-based US Wind’s Delmarva project.

Read the full article at Spotlight Delaware

Trump Administration Plans to Withdraw Approval for Maryland Offshore Wind

August 27, 2025 — The efforts to derail the U.S. offshore wind energy business are continuing with the Department of Justice confirming the Trump administration’s intent to withdraw previously issued approvals for Maryland’s first offshore wind farm to be developed by US Wind. Justice informed district courts in Delaware and Maryland of its intended action following an earlier jurisdictional dispute between Maryland and the federal Environmental Protection Agency that also sought to challenge the process for the Maryland project.

The TV news channel in Maryland, WBOC, reported on Friday, August 22, that the Department of Justice had moved to stay a pending lawsuit in Delaware in which a homeowner is challenging the wind farm’s permits under the Clean Water Act. The reasoning the DOJ gave was its intent to withdraw approval for the wind farm, making the court case irrelevant and a waste of time.

DOJ on Monday, August 25, WBOC reports, filed additional details in the District Court of Maryland. There it told the court that the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy (BOEM) intends to “voluntarily remand and vacate its approval of the Construction and Operations Plan” for US Wind’s Maryland windfarm project. DOJ revealed the action would come by September 12.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

These crabs probably saved your life. Can we save theirs?

August 18, 2025 — Susan Linder was hunting for buried treasure.

Kneeling at low tide, the biologist dug up small shovelfuls of sand, scanning each scoop for tiny jewels. One yielded a cluster of jade-colored beads. Another, from a few feet away, contained a clutch the color of amethyst.

They were eggs. In a few weeks, they would hatch into horseshoe crabs, one of the most ancient and important animals in the United States. The crabs in the Delaware Bay are the stars of an annual ecological opera involving sex, binge eating and literal bloodlust.

Every spring, the crabs clickety-clack ashore for a massive orgy timed to the rise and fall of the tides, depositing millions of eggs in the sand.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

DELAWARE: Trump administration enters the Delmarva offshore wind debate

August 6, 2025 — The Trump administration’s opposition to offshore wind power is now taking aim at a controversial energy project off the Delmarva coast, potentially putting its future at risk.

Last week, the federal government revealed in court documents that it is reconsidering permits that the Biden administration had previously awarded to US Wind, a Baltimore-based company proposing to build an offshore wind farm within sight of beach communities in Maryland and Delaware.

The court documents are part of lawsuits filed by a local Delaware resident and Ocean City, Md., against the U.S. Department of Interior, challenging certain offshore construction approvals for the project.

“An extension in this case is necessary as Interior intends to reconsider its [Construction and Operations Plan] approval and move in the District of Maryland — the first-filed case — for voluntary remand of that agency action,” wrote Delaware U.S. Attorney Julianne Murray and Adam Gustafson, the acting assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.

The federal courts would have to sign off on a “voluntary remand,” which is a request to send a case back to an administrative agency for reassessment. If the permit approvals were to be reassessed by the Trump administration, it’s possible they could be denied, dooming the project.

Read the full article at Spotlight Delaware

DELAWARE: Offshore wind bill heads to Delaware Senate floor after contentious hearing

June 6, 2025 — Democratic lawmakers faced more than an hour of angry public comments on June 2 from residents who largely slammed their proposal to retroactively strip Sussex County Council of its ability to deny a permit for an offshore wind farm – one of the most controversial energy projects in recent memory.

But in the end, the members of the Senate Environment, Energy and Transportation Committee nonetheless advanced the bill to be considered by the full Senate.

Opponents of the proposal say it’s an example of government overreach, while Democrats and environmental groups supporting the bill say it’s necessary to address Delaware’s energy needs.

The bill is slated for a vote in the State Senate next week, after legislators return to session following the state’s budget markup hearings. Should it pass there, the Delaware House of Representatives would then consider the bill.

Read the full article at Spotlight Delaware