OCEAN CITY – Offshore wind farm designated areas off the mid-Atlantic coast could be expanding in the future after federal officials last week announced eight draft wind energy areas have been identified and are now open to a public comment period.
As part of the Biden administration’s stated goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) last week announced eight new draft Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) have been identified off the central U.S Atlantic coast and are now available for public review and comment.
The proposed offshore WEAs would cover roughly 1.7 million acres off the coast of from North Carolina to Delaware, including Maryland and the areas off the coast of Ocean City and Assateague, for example. The area’s closest points to the coast range from about 19 to 77 nautical miles.
That the new WEAs proposed by BOEM could be sited as far as 77 nautical miles off the resort coast appears to lend credence to the town of Ocean City’s argument the wind turbines could be sited further offshore and out of sight from the mid-Atlantic beaches. Two WEAs for projects far along in the planning pipeline or still pending are situated much closer to the resort coast.
From the beginning, Ocean City officials have not opposed offshore wind energy farms off the coast of the resort but have argued on multiple occasions the turbines should be located far enough from the shore that they would not be visible from the coast. Town officials have argued offshore wind turbines sited within Ocean City’s viewshed could have a detrimental impact on tourism and property values, for example.
What absolute lunacy to even consider this nonsense!
Lets put them next to Martha’s Vineyard !!!! That is the BEST SPOT !!!!