By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Ocean Pines Association has joined the legal fight against wind turbines off Ocean City.

At the community’s monthly board meeting last Saturday, the OPA Board of Directors agreed the community will join the fight against US Wind’s plan to construct 114 wind turbines 10.7 miles off the coast of Ocean City and Fenwick Island, Del.

OPA will officially enter as a co-plaintiff into litigation against the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, alongside the Town of Ocean City, the Worcester County Commissioners, the Town Council of Fenwick Island, the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce, the White Marlin Open, the Ocean City Marlin Club, the Harrison Group, Castle in the Sand, Coastal Association of Realtors and others.

The Town of Ocean City retained the Washington D.C.-based Marzulla Law, LLC, to file the suit against BOEM in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in October after the U.S. Department of the Interior announced approval of the wind initiative on Sept. 5.

Ocean City is arguing the federal government failed to secure regulatory requirements in its favorable recommendation of the project.

The wind turbines proposed for the Delmarva Peninsula, which would extend roughly 900 feet above the ocean’s surface, are part of a federal and state effort to reduce harmful energy emissions and instead turn to wind sources. Proponents say the initiative could generate up to 2,200 megawatts of renewable energy and power up to 777,000 homes. Worcester County officials and residents worry that if erected, the structures will adversely affect the local fishing industry, the environment, tourism, and the beach’s viewsheds.

At the community’s Saturday, Nov. 23 meeting, the OPA Board of Directors voted to enter as a co-plaintiff in the litigation against the federal government for its approval and permitting of the wind turbine project. Board Vice President Rick Farr said the reason for joining the lawsuit is primarily to protect the “unindustrialized” views of the Atlantic Ocean from the community’s Beach Club, an Ocean City-located property owned by OPA for its residents, among other economic and environmental concerns listed in the suit. These worries include alleged neglect by the U.S. Department of the Interior, BOEM, and the National Marine Fisheries Service to meet requirements set forth by the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act.

According to the suit, a federal goal to have 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 caused BOEM to act hastily in approving the wind project and fail to weigh the potential negative impacts. One such effect includes possible disruption to the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

“The government approval of this project violates some of our nation’s most vulnerable and effective environmental protection laws,” Farr said. “… As the lawsuit alleges, the federal government ignored the substantial adverse effects this project will have on the 10 miles of beautiful beaches along Ocean City, including locations of OPA’s Beach Club. Our tourism, industry, and economy are based directly on commercial and recreational fishing, bird and whale watching, and open and unindustrialized views of the Atlantic Ocean.”

BOEM assessed the effects of the US Wind proposal in its Environmental Impact Statement as part of the agency’s approval process. While the document acknowledges that the project would result in “major impacts” on the viewshed, it amended that the structures could encourage sightseeing.

The report also states that the initiative may negatively impact water quality, wetlands, coastal habitats, and marine mammals. Additionally, the turbines could affect commercial and recreational fishing via port and fishing access.

Proponents argue the benefits of the wind devices override the potential negative impact.

If successful, the project will include four offshore substation platforms, four offshore export cable corridors, one meteorological tower, and the turbines themselves. The initiative is expected to create over two gigawatts of renewable energy for the Delmarva Peninsula and support approximately 2,700 jobs over the next seven years.

Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan was present at OPA’s meeting on Saturday, where he added that the Maryland Board of Public Works’ Wednesday, Nov. 20 approval of a tidal wetlands permit requested by US Wind to reconstruct a 353-foot concrete pier and 383 feet of steel bulkhead for the company’s proposed Operation and Maintenance Facility in the West Ocean City Harbor, will eliminate the local fishing industry.

The proposed development site is the location of Martin Fish Company and Southern Connections. As granted by the permit, the properties will be reworked to include an onshore office, a marine coordination center, warehouse space, and quayside and berthing areas for US Wind’s crew transfer vessels.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Senator Mary Beth Carozza (R-38) argued the redevelopment would displace the “only facility for commercial vessel operators to offload the seafood catch.” As such, the redeveloped pier would yield a negative environmental impact, she said, as well as disturb the fishing industry.

“Those changes, if they’re approved and that happens and they build that pier, and they remove those buildings, which are the only buildings in the West Ocean City harbor where our commercial fisherman can offload their catch and process their fish, it will eliminate the commercial industry in Worcester County, and that’s a fact,” Meehan said. “They are trying to offer compensation to our fishermen in lieu of allowing them to continue with their jobs … These are Eastern Shore jobs. This is part of our heritage and way of life in Worcester County.”

“If we don’t stand up for ourselves, what I can tell you, and what I have learned, is no one else is going to, and the Eastern Shore has to have a voice,” the mayor continued. “Each and every one of us here believes we live in a special place. What is being proposed without being thoroughly vetted threatens this very special place.”

The OPA Board of Directors voted to join the litigation against the federal government with six votes. The seventh member of the community’s body, Steve Jacobs, abstained.

“I have been coming to Ocean City all my life,” John Latham, the board’s secretary, said. “The beach is important. I plan on spending a lot of time here. I want my kids to enjoy the beach. We have a multi-million-dollar beach club out there. That is a reason for Ocean Pines, but personally, I fish inshore and offshore. I know everybody at the docks, and I know how those people make their living. It will decimate that business. There is no chance I support anything like this.”

Director Elaine Brady echoed Latham’s sentiments, stating that there are many reasons why the wind project is not a favorable proposal for Ocean City.

“[The project] will destroy our coast, marine life, and fishing,” she said. “Environmentally, it is a horrible project. In addition to the fact that financially, it isn’t even viable … I am strongly against it.”

Director Jeff Heavner, who had a three-decade long career with ExxonMobil, argued that US Wind’s project is a hasty effort with untested consequences. He said that while he favors reducing carbon footprints, the proposed project does not consider the co-plaintiffs’ environmental and economic reservations.

“This particular wind project is misinformed and a race to a blind energy policy,” Heavner said.

OPA has agreed to enter into the lawsuit with the stipulation that the community will not incur any legal fees.