Two members of the Eastern Shore delegation are requesting the U.S. Department of the Interior take legal action to bring Maryland’s offshore wind energy project into compliance with the president’s executive order.
In a May 15 letter, Senator Mary Beth Carozza (R-38) and Delegate Wayne Hartman (R-38C) urged Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to file motions pertaining to the Town of Ocean City’s lawsuit, which challenges the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) process for
approving the US Wind project.
The motions, they argue, will send the 114-turbine project back to BOEM and bring the project into compliance with President Donald Trump’s Jan. 21 executive order.
“By filing motions and proposal orders to the court that agree with the allegations and deficiencies presented in this lawsuit and requesting the court to refer the permit issuance back to BOEM, it would trigger required compliance with the President’s executive order and effectively halt the project,” a joint statement reads.
In October, the Town of Ocean City, alongside the Worcester County Commissioners, the Town of Fenwick Island and several other co-plaintiffs, filed suit in U.S. District Court challenging BOEM’s process for approving the US Wind project, which involves the construction of 114, 938-foot-tall wind turbines located nearly 11 miles off the coast. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges the regulatory agency ignored the local economic and aesthetic damage a wind farm could cause.