With President Donald Trump’s recent inauguration comes uncertainty for the massive wind energy project planned to be erected along the coast of Ocean City. But Worcester County officials and residents aren’t taking any chances.

They are still actively working to stop the project, which they’ve made clear they don’t want.

“I have seven commissioners that don’t always agree, and they are aligned on this. Ocean City has a mayor and council that don’t always agree, and they are aligned on this. And further, if you take Ocean City government and Worcester County government, [they] rarely get along over things .. and they are violently aligned on this,” Worcester County Administrator Weston Young said during an interview with The Baltimore Sun.

“Politically, all the locally elected officials are opposed to offshore wind.”

How we got here

In September, President Joe Biden’s administration approved Baltimore-based US Wind’s project to build offshore wind turbines a little over 10 miles off the coast of Ocean City.

According to the Department of the Interior, the offshore wind farm could generate over 2 gigawatts of wind energy and power over 718,000 homes.

During the majority of the year, Ocean City is home to approximately 7,000 local residents. At its peak in the summer months, that number balloons to nearly 300,000. Worcester County natives are worried that the wind farm could slash that number, striking a significant blow to local businesses — particularly commercial fishing.

According to Worcester County Commissioner Chip Bertino, the jurisdiction’s commercial fishing industry generated $4.2 million in seafood in 2023.

Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, approves of offshore wind.

In June, he signed a memorandum of understanding to commit to finding new lease areas for offshore wind projects along Maryland’s coastline. At the time, the governor said he believed the expansion of offshore wind would ensure job creation in manufacturing components for wind turbines and the development of a greener economy.

“Maryland is serious about offshore wind because we’re serious about actually achieving our goals — not just because of what it means for the environment, but also, importantly, what it means for our economy,” Moore said on the day of the signing.

At a November meeting of the Maryland Board of Public Works, Moore, Comptroller Brooke Lierman, and state Treasurer Dereck Davis approved a license to replace and rebuild a West Ocean City pier and bulkhead proposed as part of US Wind’s operation and maintenance facility.

The meeting’s agenda item did not include the building of the facility. Because of a decision from the Maryland Supreme Court regarding the parameters of the Board of Public Works, Moore, Lierman and Davis were unable to consider concerns about the future project.

“Just know that your voices are heard. Loud and clear,” Moore said. “And we know that nothing can happen to the Eastern Shore unless it’s in coordination with the Eastern Shore.”

A fight for fishing

If it moves forward as planned, the project will upend the town’s two major fish houses, where commercial fishermen go to offload and sell their catches.

“We’re moving full speed ahead with an operations and maintenance facility for offshore wind that would just take every square inch of the property where these two fish houses are located, with no backup plan for fish houses,” Young told The Sun.

According to Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan, the West Ocean City Harbor is the only commercial fishing harbor in the state of Maryland with direct access to the Atlantic Ocean.

“This elimination of these facilities will devastate our fishing industry, eliminating jobs and harming local restaurants that rely on fresh, locally caught seafood,” Meehan told the board. “We’re eliminating jobs. All I hear from US Wind is that they want to create jobs at the expense of eliminating other jobs. Seems contradictory to me.”

State Sen. Mary Beth Carozza, a Republican representing the lower Eastern Shore, including Ocean City, testified in opposition to the license award, saying it would be “premature to make a decision to make a decision today that would permanently damage our local commercial fishing industry and harm our fishing families who have lived and worked here for generations.”

During the meeting, Laurie Jodziewicz from US Wind said the company was approached by two property owners at the West Ocean City Harbor, and has since moved into contracts with both.

Lierman reminded attendees that the pier is privately owned, and the owner has the right to sell it. Davis questioned whether the fish houses would be compelled to continue operating if the board did not approve the license.

Jodziewicz said the company is working on a memorandum of understanding with the state and local fishermen to fund a program to lessen the impacts of the fish houses’ losses.

“US Wind recognizes the importance of fishing in the West Ocean City Harbor community and in Maryland, writ large,” she said. “We also recognize the importance of the two properties to local fishermen … and we’re committed to working with them and the state to mitigate the impacts to those services.”

Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz said the voluntary memorandum may have a compensatory mitigation fund for commercial watermen. This training program would also provide funding for new navigation equipment and a multi-use community resilience fund.

Meehan was not impressed by the pending memorandum of understanding.

“Bottom line is: Our local watermen want to fish. They want to utilize the water. They want to maintain their livelihood,” he said. “They’re not looking for compensation. Compensation will eliminate the fishing industry and will eliminate the jobs. Is that really the goal of the state of Maryland?”

Young is frustrated that US Wind has its heart set on these two essential properties when other locations are available in the harbor.

In December, the Worcester County Council approved a resolution to purchase the properties in West Ocean City Harbor in an attempt to save the local fish houses from being upended.

Young said that he has talked to the county commissioners and hired outside counsel to begin getting appraisals on the properties.

What Trump has done

U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, who represents the Eastern Shore and is Maryland’s lone Republican in Congress, told The Sun last month that ending offshore wind development is a Day 1 priority for Trump. The president, who began his second term Monday, followed through.

Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to temporarily pause leasing and permitting for wind energy projects. The Interior secretary will review existing leases to determine whether they should be terminated or amended on an ecological, economic, and environmental basis.

Del. Wayne Hartman, a Republican representing Ocean City in the Maryland House of Delegates, called Trump’s pause on the project a “win,” and said he hopes it will continue after he leaves office.

“We are finally being heard,” Hartman said. “They were going through the motions, checking off the boxes of things that had to happen, and moving through with their agenda. All of our concerns fell on deaf ears for all these years. Now we finally have the new administration that’s listening.”

However, because US Wind has already completed the federal permitting process, the company’s project is unlikely to be affected by Trump’s initial executive order.

Regardless, Young said that the movement toward acquiring the fish houses would quash future administrations from disrupting one of the county’s largest industries.

“I’ve never been one to push for eminent domain,” he said. “But if there ever was a case — a good case — for eminent domain, this is protecting the entire commercial fishing industry.”

But the potential for the county to purchase won’t come without a fight.

According to Young, attorneys for US Wind sent a letter to county officials telling them that if they move forward with an attempt to purchase the properties, the company will litigate. He also said that US Wind stated at a meeting with the Greater Salisbury Committee that they’re going to build a new fish house as part of the project but have yet to identify a site.

“I don’t have my finger on the pulse of where the commissioners are, but I don’t see them being intimidated,” Young said.

‘Protect our ecosystem, our economy’

The movement toward the purchase isn’t the only action local officials have taken to stop the project.

In October, the town of Ocean City filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to stop the project from moving forward, with a cadre of supporters including the neighboring town council of Fenwick Island, Delaware, the Worcester County Commissioners, the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association, and the commercial and recreational fishing industry.

“We have a responsibility to protect our ecosystem, our economy, view shed and our future,” Meehan said in a statement the day the case was filed. “For the past seven-and-half years we have been trying to work with the state of Maryland and the federal government to address our concerns with this project. All of our concerns were either ignored or considered insignificant.”

In Annapolis, Carozza is using the power of her position on the Senate Energy, Education and the Environment Committee to take a stand, with plans to sponsor a bill to have the Maryland Public Service Commission conduct a cost-benefit analysis of wind compared to other energy options.

More than anything, Carozza is impressed with how the coalition against the proposed wind project is growing in size and strength.

“I expect that this fight will continue and we will prevail in that, when you put the information out there and people really start to think through — what I believe — are all the unintended consequences of moving forward with the offshore wind energy, that this will not proceed,” she said.

Have a news tip? Contact Hannah Gaskill at hgaskill@baltsun.com.