Wind farm’s environmental impact statement seeking feedback

Credit to: Chris Flood, Cape Gazette

A wind power station proposed just east of Ocean City, MD (that could come ashore at 3R’s Beach in Delaware Seashore State Park in South Bethany Beach, Delaware) took a step forward recently when the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a draft environmental impact statement.

BOEM announced on Sept. 29 that the environmental impact statement regarding US Wind’s construction and operations plan had been published Friday, Oct. 6. This notice has opened a 45-day public comment period that will end at 11:59 p.m., Monday, Nov. 20.

The environmental impact statement was made available online to the public prior to it being published. The nearly 600-page document states that all potential impacts that could result from the construction and installation, operations and maintenance, and conceptual decommissioning of the project have been assessed. These impacts include the biological, socioeconomic, physical, and cultural effects.

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US Wind CEO, Jeff Grybowski, called the announcement the most significant step forward in the history of Maryland offshore wind. “BOEM’s draft environmental impact statement sets us on a path toward starting construction on our offshore wind projects in 2025, putting Maryland’s goals that much closer to reality,” Grybowski had relayed in a prepared statement Sept. 29.

On the authority of BOEM, US Wind is in the pursuit of approval for the construction and operation of the Maryland Offshore Wind Project’s total of three planned phases. Two of those phases, MarWin and Momentum Wind, have received offshore renewable energy certificates from the State of Maryland.

US Wind’s proposal for all three phases consists of installation of a maximum of 121 turbines, up to four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological mast, and at most four offshore export cable corridors with landfall occurring within the Delaware Seashore State Park. The lease area is just under 9 nautical miles offshore from Maryland, and approximately 9 nautical miles from Sussex County, Delaware.

If approved, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the development and construction phases of the project could support up to an estimated 2,679 jobs annually over a period of seven years. The project could also potentially generate between 1,100 and 2,200 megawatts of clean and renewable energy to the Delmarva Peninsula. This said amount of energy could power up to 770,000 homes, according to the federal agency.

Throughout the 45-day comment period, BOEM will be holding two in-person public meetings as well as two virtual meetings. The first in-person public meeting is set for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at Ocean City Elementary, located at 12828 Center Drive, Ocean City, Md. The second in-person meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26, at Indian River High School, located at 29772 Armory Road, Dagsboro. The virtual public meetings will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 19, and at 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 30. Please know that registration for the virtual public meetings is required of all participants.

The current environmental impact statement can be viewed under the renewable energy tab at boem.gov.