MD - Public concerned about BOEM's public meeting on wind farms
Federal agency accepting comments on US Wind plan through Monday, Nov. 20
While concerns were raised about viewshed and possible landfall locations for power lines, the biggest concern voiced at an Oct. 27 public meeting about US Wind’s proposed wind farm off Maryland’s coast was about the meeting itself.
US Wind is proposing to install up to 121 turbines in three phases, up to four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological tower and up to four offshore export cable corridors with landfall occurring within Delaware Seashore State Park. The lease area is about 8.7 nautical miles offshore from Maryland and about 9 nautical miles offshore from Sussex County.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced in late September that it will accept comments on the draft environmental impact statement of US Wind’s construction and operations through Monday, Nov. 20. As part of the 45-day public comment period, BOEM hosted two in-person public meetings – Oct. 24 at Ocean City Elementary and Oct. 26 at Indian River High School in Dagsboro. BOEM also conducted two virtual public hearings.
Hundreds of people attended the meeting at Indian River High School. Most of them questioned the open-house style.
Dave Stevenson, director of Caesar Rodney Institute’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, said people attended with the expectation to hear brief presentations with an opportunity to give brief vocal comments.
“People came here to vent and they didn’t get to do that,” said Stevenson.
Standing next to Stevenson was Brad Newcomer, a member of the public who was equally annoyed at the forum, especially after being told he could not hold a sign against the proposed wind farms.
Newcomer said the people from BOEM kept saying it was their meeting, but it wasn’t. The meeting was paid for by the public and it’s the public’s meeting, he said.
There were more than a dozen BOEM experts on hand to answer questions, but official public comment was only accepted in written form or through a court stenographer.
Not everyone was against the meeting style. Delaware Surf Fishing’s Rich King said it allowed BOEM officials to get comments without it turning into a circus.
Lissa Eng, one of a few BOEM communication specialists on hand, acknowledged the frustration, noting there was some miscommunication about how the meeting would be conducted.
As for comments on the proposed wind farms, they tend to center around viewshed and landfall. There was some concern that the visuals being used by BOEM seem to show the turbines larger than the visuals presented by US Wind at other meetings.
