County Undergoes Intense Litigation With Energy Company
When it comes to the battle between the Delmarva locals and US Wind, it’s like watching a David-and-Goliath tale play out on the shores of Maryland and Delaware. Except, in this case, Goliath is a multinational wind energy corporation hurling legal threats, and David is a handful of small-town officials armed with federal lawsuits and a healthy dose of stubborn resolve.
If you’ve been keeping tabs, US Wind has been trying to push forward with its plan to build a massive offshore wind farm near Ocean City, MD. The project promises to erect 114 wind turbines off the coast, along with the onshore substations and infrastructure needed to run those behemoths. But locals, who value the pristine beauty of the coastline and the survival of the region’s vital fishing industry, have been in full resistance mode—and things are getting messy.
The Biden administration, along with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), fast-tracked approval for the project in what many saw as a rushed and tone-deaf move. Ocean City, with the support of Worcester County and others, wasted no time firing back, filing a hefty 92-page federal lawsuit citing violations of environmental regulations and procedural statutes. But that wasn’t the end of it.
U.S. Wind is threatening to take legal action against Worcester County over eminent domain in the West Ocean City Harbor. https://t.co/r8CcAo9KEZ pic.twitter.com/2JL3PoGdmP
— CoastTV (@coasttvnews) January 14, 2025
In Delaware, where US Wind needed a permit to build an onshore substation for their cables, the Sussex County Council said, “Not on our watch.” They denied the permit, essentially tossing the problem back into Maryland’s lap.
It was a bold move, one that left US Wind scrambling to make new plans—plans that soon found themselves blocked again when Worcester County commissioners swung into action to block the company’s purchase of dockside properties in West Ocean City. The county even resorted to the idea of eminent domain, a move that cut the wind developer off “at the dock,” so to speak.
This has clearly sent US Wind into a legal tizzy. Their response? Threats, lawsuits, and a “we’re bigger and richer than you” approach straight out of a corporate villain’s playbook. In a scathing letter to the Worcester County commissioners, US Wind’s lawyers promised to sue the county and even the commissioners personally for interfering with their purchase of the harbor properties.
They argued that such interference violates federal and state constitutional protections of private property rights—and then made sure to point out that their investment in the project is worth more than the county’s entire annual operating budget. Subtle, right?
To top it all off, US Wind is now demanding access to all county communications related to the project, likely hoping to unearth something they can use to their advantage. But it’s a two-way street. Ocean City and Worcester County might consider digging into BOEM’s and US Wind’s files, too—because let’s face it, there’s probably a treasure trove of juicy details in the correspondence about rushing approvals ahead of Trump’s reelection bid.