Trump’s EPA calls on Maryland to reissue wind farm permit for Ocean City
Federal officials are calling on the state to reissue a permit for a wind farm planned off the Ocean City coast, to correct what they say is an error in the original document.
In a July 7 letter to the Maryland Department of the Environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took issue with the process that MDE laid out to appeal the final construction permit awarded to US Wind.
The state said any challenge to the state permit would have to go through state courts, but EPA Region 3 Administrator Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey said that any appeal would have to be filed with the clerk of the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board.
“Failure to rectify this error could result in invalidation of the permit on appeal and confusion among relevant stakeholders with respect to where to bring such an appeal,” Blarcom-Lackey wrote.
MDE spokesperson Jay Apperson said in a statement that the agency is reviewing Blarcom-Lackey’s letter and is “committed to ensuring all our permit processes are transparent and in accordance with the law.” An official with US Wind said the company is “confident that all of our project’s permits were validly issued.”
At issue is the permit issued last month by MDE’s Air and Radiation Administration, which found that “the proposed construction and commissioning of the offshore wind project would not cause violations of any applicable air pollution control regulations.” It’s one of the final permits for the US Wind project, which has been in the works for about a decade, and is closest to construction of any offshore wind farm planned for Maryland’s coast.
The US Wind project received a critical approval from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in December, at the tail end of President Joe Biden’s administration. The federal government leased the area for the project to Baltimore-based US Wind in 2014.
The feds have leased other areas near the coast of Ocean City and the nearby Delaware beaches to Danish company Ørsted and, most recently, to Norwegian company Equinor.
US Wind’s application called for up to 121 turbines, up to four offshore substations and one meteorological tower, all about 10 nautical miles from the Ocean City shoreline — a prospect that has enraged some locals and politicians in the beach town, who have pointed to the view from shore of the wind farm, and its impacts on wildlife. The Town of Ocean City has an ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior for issuing its approval for US Wind.
Like all offshore wind projects, US Wind is facing an uncertain environment under President Donald Trump (R), a vocal critic of the industry. Shortly after he took office, Trump issued an executive order halting new offshore wind leasing in federal waters, and new project approvals from the federal government.
In April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered one offshore wind project off the coast of New York to halt construction, citing deficiencies in the BOEM permit that had allowed construction to begin. But in May, the Trump administration reversed course and allowed the project to keep moving forward.
Interestingly, MDE’s webpage about the Ocean City project seems to contradict Blarcom-Lackey’s letter about the appeals process. The page was updated to exclude mentions of an appeal process through the EPA, which had previously been included.
“The appeals process for this permit is through the State of Maryland only, and the language describing the U.S. EPA appeals process has been removed,” reads the webpage.
Apperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the webpage.
In a statement, US Wind’s vice president of external affairs, Nancy Sopko, said that the company is confident the project’s paperwork is proper and is “very committed to delivering this important energy project to the region.”
“The state needs all the new sources of electricity we can build in order to keep prices affordable for homes and businesses,” Sopko wrote.