Congressman Harris Calls on Governor Moore to Reconsider Throwing Good Money at Failing Offshore Wind Projects After Orsted Cancels Development of Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2

Washington, D.C. –Following the announcement that Danish company Orsted is cancelling offshore Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects in New Jersey, Congressman Andy Harris, M.D. (MD-01) released the following statement calling on Governor Wes Moore to reconsider throwing good money at Maryland’s failing offshore wind projects.

As recently as last week, Governor Moore announced more than $6 million in grant funding for emerging businesses and workforce development in the offshore wind industry including $2 million in grants to fund the support of offshore wind education, workforce training, and internship programs. He also included $1.5 million in grant funding to support new and existing businesses entering the offshore wind supply chain in Maryland.

This comes on top of Governor Moore’s March 29, 2023, announcement that Maryland will significantly increase its offshore wind output to position Maryland as becoming the country’s leader in offshore wind production by 2031. Notably, Maryland is partnering with Orsted, the failing, foreign owned offshore wind company that just announced it is killing plans to build two offshore wind farms in New Jersey.

Congressman Harris issued the following statement:

“Governor Wes Moore should reconsider throwing good money at expensive offshore wind projects that may be causing the death and stranding of dozens of whales and marine mammals off the Atlantic Coast. Instead of learning from the failed offshore wind projects in New Jersey, Governor Moore is doubling down on additional offshore wind funding at a time when hard-working Marylanders are struggling with inflation and are already seeing increases in their electric rates. As we can clearly see, these expensive, harmful offshore wind projects weren’t any good for New Jersey and they certainly won’t be any better for Maryland.”