MDE to reissue license for US Wind project, officials say technical error is a victory
Maryland’s Department of the Environment should have advertised a federal appeals process, not a state one, for members of the public wishing to challenge the final permit for a planned wind farm off the coast of Ocean City.
The 114-turbine wind farm is supposed to be built 10.7 miles into the Atlantic Ocean – in federal waters. That means when Maryland issued a permit for developer US Wind to proceed, it did so under federal authority with the blessing of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA.
That was the gist of a stark notice that EPA Regional Administrator Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey sent July 7 to Serena McIlwain, Maryland’s Secretary of the Department of the Environment, or MDE.
The federal government is using the technical error in the appeals process as leverage to force a permit re-issue by Maryland. If the permit isn’t fixed and reissued, the entire permit could be overturned on appeal, the letter says.
“Failure to rectify this error could result in invalidation of the permit on appeal and confusion among relevant stakeholders with respect to where to bring such an appeal,” Blarcom-Lackey wrote.
Now, the feds say MDE will have to reissue its permit decision and state clearly that the authority came from federal law. Otherwise, an appeal filed by a citizen in the wrong court could be thrown out.
Right, the state erred because that worthless Turd of a governor we have is pushing unreliable, expensive, wind power. What is he gaining from this absurd behavior?