The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) will extend the public comment period for US Wind’s air quality permit application.
Following a public hearing last Thursday, the state agency announced it would extend its public comment period for US Wind’s air quality permit application to March 17. The extension will give community members 60 more days to submit comments in writing.
“The Department has received requests for a one-time 60-day extension to the public comment period for the US Wind Air Quality permit to construct, which has been granted,” a notice reads.
In November of 2023, US Wind submitted an air quality permit application for the construction and operation of an offshore wind project to be located roughly 10 miles from Maryland’s coast. The application consisted of an air quality permit-to-construct application, an application for a New Resource Review (NSR) Approval, and an application for a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Approval.
From there, an informational meeting was held at the convention center in June of last year. There, citizens were able to discuss the application and the permit review process with US Wind and the Maryland Department of the Environment.
“They put in an application, and we apply science and the law,” MDE Deputy Secretary Suzanne Dorsey said at the time. “If they meet the standards for the permit, then we can award a permit. Typically, the public process is the public’s, the community’s, opportunity to provide input to shape the conditions of that permit or to tell us why they should or shouldn’t have it.”