Feds give go-ahead for offshore wind project, OC pushes back

OCEAN CITY, Md. – The federal government gave the green light to US Wind to construct 114 wind turbines off the coast of Ocean City, on an 80,000-acre ocean plot. It’s project that’s been 7 years in the making and highly opposed by both Ocean City officials and residents.

Ocean City Mayor, Rick Meehan, has called on Governor Wes Moore to step in and veto the effort, but to no avail. He said the negatives outweigh the positives in the project.

“It’s going to industrialize the horizon off the coastline of Ocean City,” Mayor Meehan said. “It is going to have a detrimental effect on our economy; we only have one business, that’s tourism, and we think and have reason to believe it’ll have a detrimental impact on tourism and on property values.”

The 938-foot-tall turbines would find their home about 17 miles off the beach, with the closest turbine being just 11 miles from the beach. Beachgoer, Sandra Krause, said the turbines will turn Ocean City into a less attractive destination.

“To be truthful with you, I might start going to New Jersey, to Wildwood, and some of the places north of there, because when you sit on the beach, you don’t want to be looking at turbines. It takes away from the beauty of Ocean City,” Krause said.

In a statement, US Wind’s Senior Director of External Affairs, Nancy Sopko, said the project will help enhance the town, because it,
“Has the potential to generate up to 2,000 megawatts of clean offshore wind energy, which is enough power for over 600,000 homes.”

But mayor Meehan isn’t buying into the company’s efforts. He said the city is gearing up to take the legal route to resolve this issue.

“Our goal is not to sue the federal government, but we are prepared to do so, because if we don’t stand up for ourselves, it’s obvious no one else is going to stand up for us,” Mayor Meehan said.