A wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island. (Photo courtesy of Ørsted)
It’s troubling to watch Worcester County and Ocean City spend public funds in questionable ways as part of a scorched earth campaign to stop the development of offshore wind turbines far off the coast.
Recently we learned that the Worcester County Commissioners and the Ocean City Council are spending up to $200,000 in taxpayer funds to mount a public relations campaign against the wind project. It was particularly disturbing that this campaign is engaging in advocacy efforts not in Ocean City or Annapolis, but across state lines in Sussex County, Delaware.
As reported by the news site Spotlight Delaware and Maryland Matters, the PR firm hired by Ocean City and Worcester County created an advocacy campaign to persuade Delaware residents to tell the Sussex County government to turn down a permit needed for the offshore wind project.
The elected leaders of Worcester County and Ocean City are allocating taxpayer funds to influence independent decisions by another political entity – in another state. This is an egregious misuse of public funds. Imagine the blowback if, for example, the leaders of Baltimore City spent public money to run ads to influence official actions in Ocean City.
Second, Worcester County now wants to spend $15 million in taxpayer funds on eminent domain to stop the firm developing the offshore wind project from using properties it has agreements to purchase. The county has neglected the Ocean City harbor and ignored its fishing industry for years, but now because it serves their interests and those of the fossil fuel industry, they are willing to dump public money into an Ocean City harbor boondoggle.
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Finally, we have watched as Ocean City filed a lawsuit against the federal government to undo permits for the project that had gone through the grueling approval process including numerous opportunities for transparent information gathering and public comment – a lawsuit that will come with an enormous cost in legal fees. The law firm handling the suit is tied to the Federalist Society, an outspoken right-wing think tank that denies climate change and supports oil industry interests.
Worcester County seems to have a lot of spare taxpayer money. The tab is now in excess of $15.1 million it intends to spend on eminent domain and expensive PR firms. I’d rather see that much money put back into road improvement, stormwater management, schools and failing sewage treatment infrastructure.
The public should be careful when confronted with anti-offshore wind rhetoric. Many anti-wind groups directly coordinate with national anti-renewable energy and fossil fuel advocacy groups. In addition to “astroturfing” local communities, many of these opposition groups also receive PR and legal assistance from dark money networks and figures connected to fossil fuel corporations.
While local officials and others continue to spread misinformation about offshore wind’s impact on residents, our fishing industry, and marine life, here are some facts these officials should instead be focused on.
The Eastern Shore, and particularly Ocean City, is poised to experience accelerating damage from sea level rise and increased storm surge inundation, according to experts including the Union of Concerned Scientists. Worcester County farms are already suffering from salt water intrusion to their fields. And NOAA storm inundation maps show that a number of lower Eastern Shore poultry farms will be hurt by storm surge flooding inland via agriculture field ditches in the next 10 years.
The government leaders of both Worcester County and Ocean City refuse to accept that these threats are due directly to climate change. But a strong majority of Marylanders do understand that, and that’s one reason they support offshore wind. They know that Maryland’s project will generate enough clean energy to fuel hundreds of thousands of homes – with no pollution.
The misguided opposition out of Worcester County also threatens major economic development and job creation. Plans are in place to begin manufacturing offshore wind turbines and infrastructure both on the Eastern Shore and in eastern Baltimore County, restarting steel manufacturing and bringing steel jobs back to an area with decades of experience in steel.
These plans will create many well-paid jobs to manufacture the turbines and other equipment for Maryland and other wind projects along the East Coast. This is a fast-growing industry that will create good jobs and strengthen local economies; Maryland should be a leader in it.
I urge elected leaders in Ocean City and Worcester County to stop wasting taxpayer money and focus on the real, pressing needs of Worcester County residents.