Lawsuits, federal intervention signal an uncertain future for US Wind
Congressman Andy Harris predicts US Wind will fail.
Regulatory uncertainty, he said, may doom the developer’s plans for an offshore wind farm near Ocean City. It means the deep-pocketed lenders required to finance the project may walk away, the Eastern Shore representative said in an interview with OC Today-Dispatch.
After the U.S. Interior Department on Dec. 22 announced a pause on all large-scale offshore wind projects under construction, citing national security concerns, Harris noted how shares of the five companies affected “took a beating on Wall Street.”
“And I think what that means for US Wind – which, of course, is not a publicly traded company, it’s owned by Italian billionaires – it means that they’re unlikely to get the financing,” he said. “At some point they’re going to pull the plug. I expect that actually to be sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled the plug by summer.”
When asked about the government’s claims that national security is suddenly a determining factor now, despite years of federal review, Harris asserted that red flags about safety from the Coast Guard and the Defense Department during the permitting process had been “disregarded” in a rush to approve the permits.
“I think there was a feeling in the Biden administration that, if this was not granted, that it would’ve been stopped by the Trump administration for reasonable concerns,” he said. “We should never threaten our national security because of a renewable energy push.”