According to Maryland Congressman Andy Harris, the US Wind project off the coast of Ocean City was approved with glaring procedural and legal flaws. US Wind plans to build a 114-turbine wind farm 10.7 miles off the coast of Ocean City in federal waters of the Atlantic Ocean. But the Maryland Department of the Environment made errors in the permitting process.
Maryland’s Department of the Environment advertised a state appeals process for those wishing to challenge the final permit for the wind farm, instead of a federal appeals process. To rectify the situation, the Trump administration has asked Maryland to reissue the permit with the appropriate process identified. If Maryland does not reissue the permit, the permit could be overturned on appeal. Specifically, the federal government wants Maryland to 1) remove all online mentions of a state appeals process, 2) clearly state how to file a federal appeal with the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board, and 3) indicate that there is a 30-day deadline to file a petition for review from the date of the reissued permit.
The Town of Ocean City has been fighting the wind farm for years and has filed a lawsuit along with Worcester County against the federal government to slow or stop the project. They are accusing the government of fast-tracking the permits without proper review or a correct legal process. According to the Ocean City Today-Dispatch, Ocean City and Worcester County allege the state agency issued the permit without the required comprehensive operating permit; violated the one-year time limit between when a permit application was deemed complete and when the permit was issued; failed to conduct a required alternatives analysis; failed to provide public notice on permit provisions; failed to permit the required emissions offsets; and failed to properly calculate the emissions from vessels that would run to and from the wind facility.
US Wind has also received other preferential treatment by the state. Maryland is allowing US Wind to sell its Offshore Renewable Energy Certificates for 70% more than originally intended. As explained in the Ocean City Today-Dispatch, Maryland law requires utility companies to buy a certain amount of renewable energy. To do that, the electric utility buys a certificate for a set price, and the offshore wind developer uses that money to help pay for the project. The state of Maryland created a specified number of certificates, which were bid on by two offshore wind developers, Orsted and US Wind. The wind developers were to sell them to utility companies for a price they specified. Two years ago, Orsted pulled out of its contract, prompting Maryland to create a new bid round, which also allowed holders of existing certificates to rebid all of their previously awarded certificates. US Wind changed its pricing in the rebid from $54.17 per megawatt hour to between $91.32 and $101.29 per megawatt hour, an increase of between 69% and 87%.
Utilities have to honor the higher prices. Furthermore, in the first round of the bidding, the certificate prices were shown throughout the whole process. In the second round, they were redacted. Utilities did not find out what the final prices were until after the bid hearing and after the Maryland Public Service Commission awarded the contracts to US Wind.
Both the Town of Ocean City and Worcester County, where Ocean City is located, have pledged $100,000 each to a public campaign against wind farm development in Ocean City.
Complaints Against Vineyard Wind, off the Massachusetts Coast
Last year, Vineyard Wind had a wind turbine blade collapse, with sharp fragments of fiberglass debris falling onshore and in nearby waters, worrying boaters about harm to their boats, forcing beachgoers away from the beaches, and making town officials deal with safety issues. The Nantucket Select Board made 15 demands of Vineyard Wind, setting a two-week deadline for the offshore wind company to reply. According to the Nantucket Current, the demands fall into three broad categories: adequate communication, lighting, and emergency response planning. The Select Board alleges that Vineyard Wind has failed to live up to its commitments in the “Good Neighbor Agreement” signed by both the company and the Town of Nantucket in all three areas. The developer has repeatedly failed to communicate critical information and has polluted the sky with its turbine lights. The town’s leaders want improved communication protocols and contingency funding to address ongoing issues with the project.
Specifically, the demands include immediate communication of all emergencies to town officials, regular project updates, implementing a public emergency response planning process within two months, and establishing a $10 million escrow fund to cover any potential future cleanup costs. The town demanded that violations of the communication protocols come with a $250,000 payment. The town also demanded $25,000 per turbine for each day that the turbine lights are on without an aircraft detection lighting system active. These demands come after Nantucket recently settled with another offshore wind manufacturer for $10.5 million over similar safety failures. If Vineyard Wind fails to reply, or if the Select Board deems its responses inadequate, the town may take legal action.
The Trump Administration is No Fan of Offshore Wind
The Trump administration is revoking approval for offshore wind development in more than 3.5 million acres of federal waters across the Gulf of America, the Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic. These waters were initially set aside for the fast-tracking of offshore wind projects by the Obama administration and expanded by President Biden. Since President Trump’s re-election, Bloomberg NEF’s forecast for new offshore wind development has dropped by 56%. Furthermore, the Trump Interior Department is considering halting all wind development on federal lands and in federal waters amid a broader review of wind power’s unreliability. According to the Associated Press, all solar and wind energy projects on federal lands and waters must be approved by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum under a new order that authorizes him to conduct “elevated review” of activities ranging from leases to rights of way, construction and operational plans, grants, and biological opinions. The enhanced oversight is to “end preferential treatment for unreliable, subsidy-dependent wind and solar energy,” while ensuring all evaluations are thorough and deliberative. The Interior Department stated that it will now take an energy project’s capacity density into account when assessing the project’s potential energy benefits and environmental impacts.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation urged the Trump administration to pull back approval for the wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts mentioned above, indicating that it was acting on “behalf of local fishermen whose livelihoods have been severely impacted” by Avangrid Grid Inc.’s Vineyard Wind project. The 62-turbine wind farm is under construction, located about 12 nautical miles off Martha’s Vineyard, and was the first to be approved by the Biden administration in 2021.
Analysis
After being a darling of the Biden administration, the Trump administration is cracking down on offshore wind’s access to federal funds and lands, recognizing that it makes no sense to streamline wind power through the permitting process due to its high cost, unreliability, and environmental impact.
Wind farms not only blight the coastline, but they also harm fish populations in the area, cause noise pollution, and require a huge cable to be dug underwater to bring power from the wind farm to the mainland. Offshore wind is an extremely expensive generating source, which the revised certificate prices can attest to, and only provides less than half the power that a coal, natural gas, or nuclear plant of the same capacity can provide. Further, they have been heavily subsidized for decades by the federal government, making consumers pay twice for the power — as taxpayers and as users. The Town of Ocean City and the residents of Worcester County are right to balk at the wind farm intrusion.
For inquiries, please contact wrampe@ierdc.org
