On Thursday, the Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the approval of the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, a commercial-scale offshore wind energy project to be located roughly 10 miles from Ocean City’s coastline. US Wind reports the agency’s favorable Record of Decision concludes a two-year National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and sets the company on a path to securing all remaining federal permits by the end of 2024.
“Today marks the culmination of years of comprehensive environmental analysis on US Wind’s proposed projects,” Jeff Grybowski, US Wind CEO, said in a news release. “BOEM’s Record of Decision brings us another step closer to securing final approvals later this year and getting steel in the water. We’re eager to advance Maryland’s offshore wind goals and support good jobs in the region for decades to come.”
As proposed, US Wind’s Construction and Operations Plan considers the full buildout of a federal lease area 10 miles off the coast of Ocean City. The phased project – to include up to 114 wind turbines, four offshore substation platforms, four offshore export cable corridors and one meteorological tower – is expected to generate more than two gigawatts of renewable energy for the Delmarva Peninsula and support nearly 2,700 jobs over the next seven years.
“Today’s milestone marks another giant leap toward our ambitious goal of unleashing 30 gigawatts of offshore energy by 2030,” Laura Daniel-Davis, acting deputy secretary for the Department of the Interior, said in a news release this week. “Our work to approve the nation’s first ten commercial-scale offshore wind projects is the result of the tenacious public servants at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to expedite the federal permitting process.”
In Ocean City, however, officials have announced plans to sue the federal government should it approve permitting for US Wind’s project. In response to Thursday’s announcement, Mayor Rick Meehan said the town was considering its next steps.