Ocean City Residents, Officials Air Concerns About Offshore Wind

OCEAN CITY, NJ — The proposed offshore wind project along New Jersey’s southern coast drew a mix of support and opposition from residents and officials during an open house in Ocean City on Saturday morning.

The Danish energy company, Ørsted, plans to construct 99 wind turbines about 15 miles off the coast from Atlantic City to Cape May. Ørsted expects the wind farm to be operational by 2024 and capable of powering half a million homes.

The wind project is part of New Jersey's goal of achieving 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035 and 100 percent clean energy by 2050.

A panel of Ørsted representatives fielded questions on Saturday about the wind farm’s potential impact on Cape May County’s tourism and the commercial fishing industry during a nearly three-hour forum.

“We believe in coexistence with a wide range of industries. We think that we can all productively exist,” said Maddy Urbish, Ørsted's head of Government Affairs & Policy for New Jersey. “When it comes to tourism, Ocean Wind, PSEG and Ørsted — we really want to be good community partners.”

Urbish noted that in previous projects, Ørsted has not seen an impact on tourism.

Kara Gross, the fisheries liaison for Ørsted, also responded to these concerns, adding that Ørsted has engaged in hundreds of conversations with individual fishermen for feedback on the project beginning last year.

“What we heard from the fishing community is that they are concerned to navigate through our wind farm to get to their fishing grounds offshore,” Gross said. “So we have oriented our wind turbine array in a way that allows for several lanes of transit through the wind farm.”

The layout is intended to ease transit from major fishing ports in New Jersey, such as Barnegat Light, Cape May and Atlantic City.

Gross said Ørsted will continue to work with New Jersey’s fishing community through a team of fishing representatives that relay feedback and concerns.

Former Gov. Jim Florio was among several people who took their time at the microphone to praise the project as a strategy to combat climate change and implement renewable energy in New Jersey.

Florio said that he has a home at the shore in Sea Isle City and has visited Denmark, where he has seen the wind industry in operation.

“This is a very good thing to do to avoid problems as well as to deal with things in a positive way in terms of jobs and economic development,” Florio said. “Keep up the good work.”

Andrew Bulakowski, senior council representative of the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council on Carpenters, also spoke in favor of the plan.

“As a resident of Cape May County, which a lot of our members are, we applaud this project,” Bulakowski said, adding that the wind farm will create long-term jobs after the recent closure of the B.L. England and Oyster Creek plants.

A resident of Ocean City questioned the visible impact of the turbines on the tourism industry and how this area was selected.

“Millions of people come here every year for tourism. They sit on these beaches up and down the coast...Every day, people are taking pictures of the horizon,” Charlie Dirkin said. “The same thing happens out west at the Grand Canyon. I don’t think anyone would propose putting power plants at the rim of the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park. So my question is why are we doing that to the Jersey Shore that attracts so many people?”

According to Urbish, the federal government identified the Jersey Shore as an area they deem suitable for offshore wind through a detailed process.

Ørsted representative Pilar Patterson added that Ørsted must stay within their provided lease area, which is 15 miles off the coast of New Jersey.

Ocean City Council Vice President Tom Rotondi commented during the forum and criticized a new law that limits local governments' ability to control infrastructure for offshore wind farms.

In the proposed project, the wind farm would connect to the land-based electric grids at the decommissioned B.L. England Generating Station in Marmora. Ørsted representatives have proposed running the underground electric cables through Ocean City to reach Marmora.

The cables that connect to Ørsted's proposed offshore wind farm would need to come ashore at one of three potential locations in Ocean City at either 5th Street, 13th Street or 35th Street.

According to the law, the state Board of Public Utilities has the authority to construct and maintain wires for offshore wind projects as long as they run under streets or public property.

“Essentially what you did was you took away the ability for every town along the Jersey Shore to negotiate in good faith,” Rotundi said. “What was the thought process behind taking our ability away to defend our towns?”

In response, Urbish said Ørsted remains committed to maintaining communication and being available to answer future questions about the project.

“We really work hard to make sure we’re as available as possible,” she said.

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