Ocean City divided again over wind farm expansion proposals
Dozens of Ocean City residents, environmental groups and businesspeople were again split by the latest proposals for wind turbines off Maryland’s coast during a Tuesday night lengthy hearing before the Maryland Public Service Commission.
The newest proposals come from the two companies approved in 2017 to begin constructing wind farms in the waters off Ocean City — US Wind and Orsted. Both companies applied to expand their farms in response to a call from the state for new applications. Tuesday’s was the first of two public hearings on the new proposals.
Elected officials from the town reiterated concerns about turbines ruining beachfront views, while environmentalists cheered the possibility of more investment in wind energy.
“Not one turbine has been constructed,” Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said. “Why would the PSC rush ... with so many unanswered questions?”
US Wind, which is building 22 turbines about 17 miles from shore, could quadruple its footprint, with as many as 82 turbines 12 to 22 miles from shore, depending on how they’re configured. The Orsted proposal would add turbines no less than 20 miles offshore, according to its proposal.
“Allow[ing] turbines to be built just 13 or 17 miles off our beach would be the mistake of a lifetime,” Meehan said.
Both companies have pledged investments at the former Bethlehem Steel site in Baltimore County, now known as Tradepoint Atlantic, for turbine manufacturing, to the delight of local officials and skilled workers.
The commission is to issue a decision by Dec. 18. Another virtual public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday.
During Tuesday’s hearing, several Ocean City residents, including beachfront property and business owners, spoke in favor of the turbine expansions.
One resident, Cherie McNett, said the increased number of turbines will hardly be a distraction for beachgoers, given that loud planes waving large advertisement banners and passing boats with flashing screens are mainstays along Ocean City beaches.
McNett said young people, including her daughter, already are concerned about visiting the beach due to environmental issues. The town stopped offering recycling pickup or drop-off several years ago.
“Being able to support areas that are showing a commitment to reducing our carbon footprint are very important to these young people,” she said.
But another Ocean City resident, Danny Robinson, said approving the project would amount to allowing wind energy companies to loot the coast.
“They’re tripping over each other to plunder our beautiful ocean and run off with their pockets full of taxpayer subsidies,” he said.
Potential impacts on migrating birds and marine creatures, like whales and horseshoe crabs, pale in comparison to the impacts of climate change, some environmental groups said. And a switch to renewable energy could help slow warming, decelerating sea-level rise and saving the beach town from floodwaters.
But Jocelyn Bunting, a Worcester County resident who said her family owns the Ocean Princess fishing boat, said Tuesday that she’s concerned that the project could affect the Carl N. Shuster Jr. Horseshoe Crab Sanctuary and what few North Atlantic right whales remain in the wild.
Scientists at the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science have placed a buoy in the US Wind lease area to detect whale passages and inform construction efforts.
Carmen Voso, an assistant business agent for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 24, said he supports the proposals. As a frequent Ocean City visitor, he said he often drives across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and he’s able to point out lights that his uncle worked on. One day, he said he’d like to point out his work on the turbines off Maryland’s coast.
“When I get into Ocean City, I would love to show my grandkids and my children that your daddy and his friends worked on those windmills out there, rather than just a plane flying by saying ‘Foam Party at H2O tonight,’ ” Voso said.