Saving Seafood

Maryland county takes on international offshore wind company to save commercial fishing jobs

December 18, 2024 — On the largely undeveloped Delmarva peninsula – which is surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east and includes portions of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia – local lawmakers are getting ready to take on a major international wind power company in an effort to save its crucial commercial fishing industry.

The Worcester County Commissioners in Maryland approved a resolution on Tuesday to acquire two properties in West Ocean City Harbor through eminent domain, which US Wind plans to develop into an operations and maintenance facility as it constructs a wind farm off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. The action was taken in an effort to protect the county’s historic commercial and sport fishing industries.

The commissioners passed the resolution as US Wind, a subsidiary of Italian-based Renexia SpA, plans to construct a 353-foot-long-by-30-foot-wide concrete pier at the harbor to service vessels used to construct a proposed wind farm consisting of up to 118 turbines at least 15 miles off the coast of Ocean City. Along with the pier, the company plans to install 383 feet of bulkhead.

The two properties the county plans to acquire are currently being used by Southern Connection Seafood and the Martin Fish Company, which are the only two commercial seafood wholesalers in the area where watermen can offload and sell their catches.

The county’s plans for the two properties include developing a long-term lease with the existing owners, allowing them to continue serving the needs of the commercial fishing industry, according to the resolution that was passed.

“The commercial fishing industry is an integral and essential part of Worcester County’s economy,” the resolution reads, adding that it, along with the sport fishing industry, are dependent on commercial marine support in and around West Ocean City Harbor.

Read the full story at FOX Business

Ocean City continues with lawsuit following US Wind receiving final approval

December 4, 2024 — US Wind, Inc. announced Tuesday that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has granted final approval for the company’s Construction and Operations Plan, completing the federal permitting process for its offshore wind project.

“This is a proud moment for US Wind,” said Jeff Grybowski, US Wind CEO. “After more than four years of rigorous and robust analysis, we are thrilled to have secured this final BOEM approval. US Wind’s projects will produce massive amounts of homegrown energy and will help satisfy the region’s critical need for more electricity, all while supporting good local jobs.”

The project, located in a federal lease area off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland, has the potential to generate up to 2 gigawatts of offshore wind power — enough to power more than 600,000 homes in the region, according to US Wind.

However, the project has faced significant opposition from the Ocean City community and other local organizations. The Town of Ocean City, joined by groups such as the Worcester County Commissioners, Coastal Association of Realtors and the Commercial and Recreational Fishing Industry, say they will continue to move forward with a lawsuit against BOEM to challenge its approval of US Wind’s project.

Read the full story at Coast TV

US Wind Wins Final Approval for Offshore Wind Project

December 4, 2024 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has issued its final approval of US Wind’s construction of a wind project off the coast of Delmarva.

According to US Wind, BOEM issued the permit for the Construction and Operations Plan, the final step in the company’s ongoing federal permitting application Tuesday, December 3.

The approved project includes the construction and operation of up to 114 wind turbine generators, up to four offshore substation platforms, a meteorological tower, and offshore export cable corridors. The project could also see wind power cables coming ashore under 3Rs Beach in Delaware.

The Town of Ocean City, along with multiple co-plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit in October challenging BOEM’s approval process of US Wind’s proposed project.

Read the full story at WBOC

Ocean City expects BOEM lawsuit to cost up to $400K

November 1, 2024 — The Town of Ocean City and several local agencies and businesses are suing a federal agency over its approval process for the US Wind project off Maryland’s coast.

On Oct. 25, the Town of Ocean City announced it has retained Marzulla Law, LLC to file a lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The lawsuit, which lists several co-plaintiffs, challenges the agency’s process for approving the US Wind project, which will involve the construction of 114, 938-foot-tall wind turbines roughly 10 miles off the coast of Ocean City.

“We have a responsibility to protect our ecosystem, our economy, view shed and our future,” Mayor Rick Meehan said in a news release. “For the past seven and half years we have been trying to work with the State of Maryland and the federal government to address our concerns with this project. All of our concerns were either ignored or considered insignificant. It is unfortunate that it has come to this, but the Town was left with no choice but to file suit against BOEM and challenge their favorable record of decision on the US Wind project.”

In September, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released a favorable record of decision for the commercial-scale Maryland offshore wind project. The agency’s approval concluded a two-year National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and set US Wind on a path to securing all of its remaining federal permits by the end of 2024.

Read the full article at The Dispatch

Ocean City prepares federal lawsuit over offshore wind projects. Here’s why.

August 13, 2024 — The Ocean City Town Council has announced legal counsel has already been consulted over a possible federal lawsuit if offshore wind plans proceed.

What it would take for Ocean City to ‘file suit against the BOEM’

During the most recent normal legislative meeting, Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan noted he was not surprised members of the municipal government did not have all the details of the proposed offshore wind development by US Wind. He cited the planned 114 turbines would be “between 10.7 to 10.9 miles off our coast. At a minimum they will be 938 feet tall, and that’s three and half times taller than any building in Ocean City. If built on land, they would be the tallest structures in Maryland.”

The federal government leased the land on which these turbines are slated to be built according to the company’s federal permit application.

Read the full article at the Yahoo! News

More Offshore Wind Turbines Could be on the Way to Ocean City

August 4, 2023 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has identified three new Wind Energy Areas or WEAs. They lie off the coasts of Delaware, Virginia and Maryland.

For Ocean City leaders, this new proposal does not seem to be as controversial as US Winds, and it is all about the distance. The new site would be 23.5 nautical miles Southeast of Ocean City’s coastline. Essentially running parallel to Assateague.

“That’s a lot better than 11.9 miles, as is currently being proposed in the lease area for US Wind,” said Rick Meehan, Ocean City’s mayor.

Back in July the town hired an outside firm to look at US Wind’s proposal and deem if it is responsible. The end goal would be getting US Wind to move its turbines back. And now, the town can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Read the full article at WBOC

NEW JERSEY: Wind Farm Protesters March in Ocean City

May 31, 2023 — Kathleen Harper said she had never been part of an organized protest before. But she felt compelled to join with other protesters Saturday in Ocean City in opposition to a proposed offshore wind farm project that critics believe would be nothing less than an environmental “disaster.”

Harper, who lives in Dennis Township, carried a sign that declared, “Stop the Wind Turbines. Save the Whales. Protect Our Oceans.” She also placed a toy shark on top of her head as another symbol of her concerns for the marine life.

“I’m worried about the loss of our whales and the destruction of our ocean floor,” she said.

Harper reflects a growing movement that has brought together grass-roots protesters like herself with political leaders representing the coastal communities at the Jersey Shore to oppose plans for the Ocean Wind 1 project that would stretch from Atlantic City to Stone Harbor, 15 miles offshore.

Amid applause and cheers from Harper and other protesters, speaker after speaker denounced the wind farm during a rally Saturday morning that began in a small park across from City Hall and continued with a march across the Route 52 causeway bridge connecting Ocean City and Somers Point.

Read the full article at OCNJDaily

NEW JERSEY: Ocean City seeks to divert wind power plan

June 27, 2022 — City attorney Dorothy McCrosson took aim at plans to run a power line across the city at 35th Street at a Friday morning hearing of the state Board of Public Utilities, arguing there are other options to bring wind power to shore.

The BPU board heard oral arguments in a request for Ocean Wind 1, planned as the first large-scale offshore wind farm off the coast of New Jersey that is projected to power a half-million homes.

First, the wind-generated power needs to get to shore. As attorney Greg Eisenstark said, speaking on behalf of the applicant, there are no power customers in the ocean.

He added there are few practical options along the coast to bring electricity from the ocean to the power grid. As proposed, the project would bring power to the former B.L. England plant on the bank of the Great Egg Harbor Bay in Upper Township, with another landing site at the former Oyster Creek nuclear plant in Ocean County.

Read the full story and listen to the audio at The Press of Atlantic City

 

Fishermen concerned about wind turbines being built off Ocean City coast

June 22, 2022 — A federal agency will begin a series of public hearings Tuesday on the planned wind farm off the coast of Ocean City.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is looking at potential environmental impacts and what measures can be taken to reduce them.

Members of the commercial fishing industry have concerns with wind turbines being built on their fishing grounds.

Ted Smith has fished for conch off the coast of Ocean City for 20 years, setting out to sea before dawn. His shortest days are 12 hours long and there’s no time off. He fishes in storms, heat, rain and ice. Smith said fishing and family are the most important things in his life.

“To wake up in the morning and to know that I am to get in this boat and drive out that inlet and the sun is going to come up and I am going to be able to go to work, other than being a father, probably (is) one of the best feelings in my life,” Smith said.

Smith tosses 250 conch pots onto the ocean bottom each trip. Conchs are snail-like creatures that live on the bottom of the ocean. Considered a delicacy by the Chinese, they can fetch up to $4.50 a pound. Smith’s goal is to catch 1,000 pounds each trip. He considers his six-figure salary a modest living, supporting his wife and four children.

Read the full story at WBAL-TV

 

Federal agency to hold public meetings on US Wind project off Ocean City coast as it begins to examine impacts

June 7, 2022 — The federal agency responsible for reviewing offshore wind projects will hold a series of virtual public meetings later this month as it begins the process of evaluating a planned wind farm off the coast of Ocean City and southern Delaware.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said Tuesday that it will formally launch its review of the environmental impacts associated with a wind farm of up to 121 turbines that US Wind LLC plans to build by 2026.

The agency will describe its review process to the public at online meetings at 5 p.m. June 21 and June 23 and at 1 p.m. June 27. The process involves collecting input from the public to determine what environmental impacts the project could have, what alternatives to US Wind’s plans might exist, and what measures could be taken to reduce any impacts.

Bureau Director Amanda Lefton said in a statement the agency would use “the best available science and traditional knowledge to inform our decisions and protect the ocean environment and marine life.”

Read the full story at the Baltimore Sun