February 6, 2026 — Attracting 8 million annual visitors to its popular beach and bustling boardwalk, Ocean City, Maryland, is a cornerstone of the state’s culture and economy — but the view from the beach will change if the state government has its way.
Instead of looking out at just the sky and waves, visitors could one day see tiny toothpick-like structures — windmills, actually — on the horizon. That prospect has prompted a fierce political battle over an ambitious, 114-turbine wind energy project that aims to generate renewable power for over 700,000 homes.
Offshore wind developer US Wind leased the federal waters after winning a 2014 auction. The U.S. Department of the Interior approved the company’s construction and operations plan in December 2024, greenlighting the Momentum Wind project, which could generate over 2,000 megawatts of clean energy in addition to the MarWin turbines.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has defended the project as a key way to increase the local energy supply in a state that historically imports about 40% of its electricity.
“Maryland is serious about offshore wind — not just because of what it means for our environment but also because of what it means for our economy,” Moore said last year.
Yet while the state attempts to implement offshore wind capable of paving the way for a clean energy future, opponents on two fronts have fought to stop the project.
The founder of the Stop Offshore Wind campaign – Kevin Gibbs, owner of the Dough Roller restaurants in Ocean City– contends the presence of the windmills will hurt tourism and fishing in the region.
“You’re going to have an economic impact on families that have been here for generations,” he said.
In addition to local pushback from community members like Gibbs, President Donald Trump issued an executive order during his first month in office withdrawing leases for offshore wind projects. A federal judge overturned that order in December, but US Wind has paused design work on the project as it awaits the resolution of a separate federal court case in which Gibbs’ group and the Trump administration argue the federal permit for the project should be withdrawn.
“No law would impose civil or criminal liability on US Wind if it continued to develop the project,” U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher wrote in a recent decision in the case. “It simply has made a business decision not to do so in light of the political headwinds it perceives.”