Ocean City will contribute up to $100,000 to support Worcester County’s public relations campaign against offshore wind.
The Ocean City Council last Wednesday agreed to contribute up to $100,000 in matching funds to Worcester County for an opposition campaign targeting offshore wind. Officials report the county has contracted with Bedrock Advocacy Communications, which will work with Worcester County, Ocean City and local businesses to share messaging “on the harmful impacts of the US Wind project on our environment and economy.”
“We’re all in, and I hate to miss an opportunity to really capitalize on what might be great time to get our message out,” Mayor Rick Meehan said last week.
In December, the Worcester County Commissioners agreed to hire Bedrock Advocacy Communications, a public relations firm based in Virginia, to lead a public relations fight against US Wind, which is seeking to develop a 114-turbine project roughly 10 miles off Maryland’s coast. The campaign, they said, would go hand-in-hand with other local opposition efforts – including a city-led lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and a county-led plan to acquire two West Ocean City properties through eminent domain.
County officials noted the public relations agency will help with grassroots mobilization, strategic communications and online engagement. Worcester has committed $100,000 toward the campaign and has requested that Ocean City matches their funding amount up to $100,000.
“While the scope of work with Bedrock is meant to be scalable as needed, at this point the county’s contribution to the campaign will not exceed $100,000,” Worcester County Chief Administrative Officer Weston Young wrote in his request to the city. “We are asking the Town of Ocean City to match that amount. Further, there are private donations that are accumulating for this cause as well.”
City Manager Terry McGean told the council last Wednesday the county’s economic development office is soliciting donations to cover Bedrock’s campaign. However, whatever remained would be split equally between the two jurisdictions.
“Their first initiative was working to help with the Sussex County conditional use request from US Wind,” McGean said of the public relations firm. “I think they were helpful in making sure the public was educated about that, as well as the commissioners. We’ve had a successful result, so the staff recommendation would be to approve the expense.”
Great! They can disband their DEI Department to get the “contribution”!