Anti-wind group challenges US Wind project, holds forum at OC convention center
Anti-wind allies painted developer US Wind as an existential threat to Ocean City’s quality of life at a packed public meeting where local leaders sharpened their opposition to a proposed offshore wind farm.
Monday night’s forum at Ocean City’s convention center was staged by the coalition Stop Offshore Wind. A panel of experts and elected officials gathered to share information and field questions over about two hours for a live-streamed, standing-room-only crowd in the hundreds.
Outside the meeting room, placards warned that “the fight is not over,” while other materials urged attendees to learn “what you’re not being told” about offshore wind’s environmental and economic impacts.
Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan moderated the panel. He warned that the latest proposal – a field of 90-story windmills beginning less than 11 miles off the coast – bears little resemblance to what was originally presented nine years ago.
He said Ocean City asked at first only that turbines be pushed farther offshore. But as the years passed, deeper concerns emerged about marine life, commercial fishing, property values, and even national security. If built now, Meehan warned, the project could strike a lethal blow to the town’s billion-dollar tourism industry.
“ US Wind has never even been required to do an economic study on the impact of this project on Ocean City’s economy,” he said, “yet it received approvals.”