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Ocean City mayor confirms lawsuit against federal government likely over US Wind project

Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said the town will sue the federal government if it approves US Wind’s plans for an offshore wind project.

At the end of Monday’s council meeting, Meehan announced that the town has hired a law firm and will join several co-plaintiffs in suing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) should it issue a federal permit to US Wind for the construction of its offshore wind project, to be located roughly 10 miles from Ocean City’s coast. With a final decision to be issued later this year, Meehan asked community members to join the town in its fight.

“We are unanimous in our opposition to this project,” he said on behalf of the Mayor and Council. “Unfortunately, our state elected officials and our federal elected officials, the majority, do support this project, as does the governor. So this is a David and Goliath fight. We believe we’re right.”

Last week, BOEM released its final environmental impact statement (EIS) for US Wind’s construction and operations plan, which details the company’s intent to construct more than 100 wind turbines within a lease area located roughly 10 miles from shore. Nancy Sopko, senior director of external affairs for US Wind, said the report marks the end of the agency’s two-year environmental review, and that a Record of Decision could be issued as early as next month.

“We’re not surprised by what we see in the FEIS; in fact, we’re happy that BOEM chose our proposed project as their preferred choice for approval,” she said. “US Wind designed the projects to be protective of natural and socioeconomic resources by including hundreds of ‘mitigation measures,’ such as significantly reducing sound underwater during construction to protect marine mammals. The fact that BOEM chose US Wind’s project plans as their preferred alternative means that we’ll be able to develop our entire federal lease area and maximize delivery of offshore wind energy to the region.”

In total, the final EIS released last week evaluates the offshore wind project that US Wind proposes to build, as well as a range of alternatives. If approved, officials say the project could generate up to 2,200 megawatts of renewable energy and power up to 770,000 homes.

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7 thoughts on “Ocean City mayor confirms lawsuit against federal government likely over US Wind project”

  1. Are you aware the ATLANTIC HOTEL down town was bought by a guy in New Jersey ( Josey ) , and will be torn down for another high rise

    The Purple Moose is next on the agenda to be torn down

    Nostalgic OC is done with , and its now a business district, and not a nice place to visit

  2. ” officials say the project could generate up to 2,200 megawatts of renewable energy and power up to 770,000 homes. ” Articles and news reports like this all up and down the east coast always brags about how many homes homes it ” could ” power, how many megawatts it “could ‘ produce.
    There is NEVER any mention about business . How many ” homes ” of electricity does it take to power a covenant store with gas pumps ? How many ” homes ” of electricity does it take to power a home improvement store ? Oh, let’s not forget all the hotel and motels in the area.
    How many ” homes ” of electricity does it take to power a Walmart or Sam’s club ? What about the street lights and stop lights ?
    I think that they only use homes as an example because people can relate more to that.
    They use the example of 770,000 home. Is that to power the homes for 1 day, 1 month, 1 year, 10 years ?

  3. It’s bad for the environment, bad for wildlife, and bad all around for tourism. I don’t want to vacation at the beach and see windfarms on the horizon! How long do you think a windmill will last in salt water and in salt air! Not long! See how long they last the the Nor’easter’s come in November!

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