January 16, 2026 — Opponents of offshore windfarms gathered in Ocean City this week to discuss the status of the controversial project proposed by U.S. Wind and its potential impact on the Maryland-Delaware coastline.
The group Stop Offshore Wind organized the Jan. 12 forum, held at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center and hosted by Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan.
Speakers included Fenwick Island Mayor Natalie Magdeburger, City Manager Terry McGean of Ocean City and leaders of groups representing the fishing industry, national security concerns and environmental issues.
Magdeburger, a longtime opponent of offshore wind, updated attendees on the status of a lawsuit filed by Fenwick Island and Sussex County officials against the state of Delaware over passage of Senate Bill 159, which overrode the denial by Sussex County Council of a plan to bring power lines ashore at Three Rs beach in Delaware Seashore State Park and connect to a substation located at the former Indian River Power Plant in Dagsboro.
Fenwick has also taken legal action to prevent DNREC from allowing the connections, which would involve running cables under the Indian River Bay.
“It was interesting to me that the Center for the Inland Bays, who actually took money from U.S. Wind, when their scientists…were looking at these issues, they came to the conclusion that plowing through the Indian River Bay would be the ‘worst option’ possible. And yet that was the cheapest option, and that was the option that DNREC…approved.
“The legislature has created a market in Delaware,” Magdeburger said. “It basically mandated that a certain percentage of all of our energy that we purchase in Delaware needs to be purchased from renewables,” such as offshore wind.