Saving Seafood

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

Judge denies motion to pause Ocean City wind farm litigation

October 6, 2025 — A federal judge denied the Trump administration’s bid to pause Ocean City’s lawsuit over offshore wind power due to the federal government shutdown.

Before the government shutdown, Judge Stephanie Gallagher was expected to issue a ruling that would either allow U.S. Wind to move forward or give the U.S. Department of the Interior the ability to pull back its approval. In August, the Department of the Interior, speaking for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, joined Ocean City in asking the court to send the case back and vacate the prior approval.

The government’s Thursday filing asked the court to pause the case because the Department of Justice’s attorneys are “prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, with few exceptions” since the shutdown began on Wednesday.

Read the full article at the Miami Herald

Do Offshore Wind Turbines Impact Fishing?

April 20, 2022 — Offshore wind seems poised to set sail on U.S. coasts. According to the Department of Energy, the burgeoning electricity source has the potential to generate more than 2,000 gigawatts (GW) of capacity per year—nearly double the nation’s current electricity use. Last fall, the Interior Department announced the commencement of construction on the nation’s first commercial scale wind farm, 15 miles off Martha’s Vineyard, and approved a deal for the second off Rhode Island. The Biden administration aspires to launch 16 such sites by 2025 and generate 30 GW of energy by 2030. But what impact will all the construction have on wildlife and fishing? A 10-year, $11 million U.S. Wind and University of Maryland study aims to find out.

Wind is the fastest growing energy source in the U.S., providing 42 percent of the country’s new energy in 2020. So far, most of that has come from land-based wind turbines. But, faster and steadier offshore wind speeds offer more potential. And as the cost of efficiently harnessing offshore wind has plummeted, that potential has soared.

But not everyone is pleased. A lone standoff last fall between a fishing boat and one of U.S. Winds’ giant research vessels symbolized the grievances of a key constituency: the ocean fishing community. Fishermen expressed concerns about damage to their equipment, disruption of the fishing grounds, and even the loss of their way of life. Annie Hawkins, the executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a trade association representing commercial fishermen, told the Guardian, “The fishing industry feels very strongly that they still do not have a meaningful voice in the process nor an authentic seat at the table.”

Read the full story at Field & Stream

MARYLAND: Why the fishing industry is against offshore wind farms near Ocean City

July 23, 2018 — Concern from the fishing industry is the latest development in the escalating debate over offshore wind farms near Ocean City.

Representatives say wind farms could cause harm by driving marine wildlife away, disturbing the ocean environment and making navigation more difficult for fishers and mariners.

“Now with the current offshore wind leasing process, we have these fishing grounds being sold right out from under us,” said Meghan Lapp during a recent presentation to the Ocean City Town Council. Lapp is a fishing liaison for Seafreeze Ltd., a Rhode Island commercial fishing company.

But marine biologists and wind farm officials say the impact won’t be that severe.

“I think they took an emotional approach to the problem. … So there was some degree of misinformation,” said Salvo Vitale, general counsel for U.S. Wind, one of the offshore wind energy companies involved in the Maryland project.

Conflicting information has muddied many discussions surrounding offshore wind energy. This back and forth pattern of counter arguments has persisted throughout the history of the project.

Read the full story at the Salisbury Daily Times