AG Jennings, Brown File Briefs Supporting Offshore Wind Project

MARYLAND & DELAWARE – Delaware Attorney General (AG) Kathy Jennings and Maryland AG Anthony G. Brown have filed amicus curiae briefs challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to cancel the wind power project approved for construction last year.

In Oct. 2024, U.S. Wind was approved to construct a wind power turbine project, 11 miles off of the coast of Delaware and Maryland. Despite permits and approvals having already been issued for the project, the federal government is working to halt construction as part of the administration’s stance against wind energy. The federal government has also issued stop-work orders or attempted to revoke final approvals for approved wind projects in New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

The briefs filed by AGs Brown and Jennings weigh in on a legal battle that began at the end of last year, with a lawsuit filed by Ocean City following federal approval of the offshore project. On Sept. 12, the Department of the Interior reversed course and filed a motion to vacate and remand the project approval.  When the U.S. District Court ordered a briefing on that motion, the federal government then sought to stay the proceedings indefinitely.

AG Brown filed a brief in the U.S. District Court on Wednesday, Oct. 29, requesting a preliminary injunction to save the project. The State of Maryland has been investing in wind energy since 2013, including over $16 million in grants to develop the offshore wind supply chain and workforce in the state. 

“Maryland has spent years building our offshore wind future, but the Trump administration’s actions threaten that progress and the thousands of jobs this project would create,” said AG Brown. “We’re filing this brief to defend critical investments in Maryland communities, good-paying jobs for Marylanders, and the clean energy our families need as electricity demand and utility costs continue rising.”

Construction of the offshore wind project is projected to support more than 13,600 direct and secondary jobs in Maryland alone throughout its construction and operation. Prior to the change in administrations, U.S. Wind had committed millions to investment in the state, including over $75 million for steel and port facilities at Sparrows Point in Baltimore County. 

Delaware was also expected to see hefty benefits as a result of this project. Initial projections see the additional energy supply reducing local energy prices by an estimated $253 million during the contract term if it were to proceed. 

AG Jennings also filed a brief in the the U.S. District Court on Monday.

“Delawareans are already struggling with the rising cost of living, including surging energy prices. This project would deliver real relief to consumers who desperately need it. It was fully vetted, permitted, and approved,” said AG Jennings in a statement . “If this cancellation is allowed to stand — if the president is allowed to tamper with the market — it will make energy even more expensive when families can least afford it.”

Delaware Public Advocate Jameson Tweedie expanded on just how the project would help Delawareans with their electric bills:

“The US Wind Project will provide Delawareans tens of millions of dollars in direct cost savings; potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in reduced energy, transmission, and congestion costs; infrastructure upgrades that would improve reliability; and an enormous source of renewable, predictable electricity. Especially considering the rapidly growing demand for electricity and the impacts it will have on cost and reliability, there simply are no other anticipated projects that would deliver the scale of predictable electricity generation into Delaware as the US Wind Project.”

However, efforts to stop the federal administration may be futile. A federal judge in Washington, D.C. ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration may reconsider the Biden-era approval of SouthCoast Wind, a wind farm planned off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. This particular project was approved three days before Trump assumed the presidency this year.

Meanwhile, residents of the Delmarva Peninsula have historically not been fond of offshore wind projects. Residents cite tourism concerns, fearing that construction of the turbines would interupt the beach view that so many travel for. Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan has been leading the town’s charge against the project for over a year now.

“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,” said Mayor Meehan in a previous statement.

If construction of the offshore wind project were to continue uninterrupted, work would be expected to conclude in 2029.