Commissioners cite impact on marine life, tourism, commercial fishing, loss of home rule, threaten legal action ‘on all fronts’
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — The Cape May County Board of County Commissioners is formally opposing the Ocean Wind 1 offshore wind farm and the Danish company’s adjacent proposed wind farm, Ocean Wind 2, and threatening legal action “on all fronts.”
The board unanimously passed a resolution to that effect Tuesday, May 23, arguing the wind farms will harm the marine environment, tourism and, potentially, real estate values.
The resolution, No. 314-23, goes on for pages with reasons why the county is taking this action.
“At first, the County of Cape May was interested in trying to work with Ørsted to find a way forward, perhaps with some modifications to the project to reduce visual, environmental and economic impacts,” Commission Director Len Desiderio said in a release issued by the county. “We would like to see land-based offshore wind facilities and supply-chain infrastructure built here in New Jersey, since that would create good opportunities for trade workers and others. But we cannot sit quietly by as hundreds of windmills are installed off our beaches as state and federal government agencies ignore our legitimate and serious concerns.
“As time went by, it became clear that Ørsted was not interested in finding any compromise,” Desiderio said. “It is clear to us now that the approach among this foreign corporation and their partners in the state and federal governments is to build these things as fast as they can despite the potential for devastating environmental and economic impacts. On behalf of the people of Cape May County, we will not let that happen without a fight.”
The resolution said county and municipal officials first tried to work with Ørsted at a meeting two years ago on May 24, 2021, but the company did not show any willingness to change the visibility of the project, which would make the massive wind turbines visible from every beach in the county. The same thing occurred in meetings in January 2022, according to the resolution.
It noted how the New Jersey Legislature passed a bill June 21, 2021, to take the authority from county and municipal officials and give it to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, and that Ørsted used that bill, signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy, to petition the BPU in February 2022 to get environmental permits and real property.
The resolution notes how the BPU decided in Ørsted’s favor in September 2022 and February 2023, overriding the elected officials in the county and Ocean City.
The resolution argues the state is allowing offshore surveying operations for the Ocean Wind project that could be harming whales, dolphins and porpoises even though the Murphy Administration joined a federal lawsuit in 2018 seeking an injunction against similar surveying activities by offshore oil companies.
The resolution also contends the state’s insistence the surveying is not having an impact on marine mammals is “inconsistent with reality and contrary to the arguments the state of New Jersey made in federal court in 2018.”
The resolution also takes issue with the fact the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) stated the multiple offshore wind projects along the East Coast “would have negligible impacts on climate change” compared to current means of producing electricity.
It notes Harvard University researchers have found the impacts of wind energy accumulate slowly and would actually have more climate impact over the first 10-year period.
The county, the resolution goes on, “has grave concerns about the potential negative impacts on our tourism economy” and cites research that the county could see a 15 percent decrease in tourism, which would mean a “devastating” loss of $1.11 billion in revenues — drops of $458 million in lodging, $250 million in food and beverage, $115 million in recreation, $210 million in retail and a loss of nearly 6,000 tourism-related jobs.
The resolution also cites assessments that the commercial fishing industry in the county “would suffer significant losses as a result of the construction of offshore wind projects.”
The resolution concludes “all reasonably necessary and available resources of the county … be utilized to advance the goal of stopping Ørsted’s Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 offshore wind farm development projects unless the impacts on marine mammals can be conclusively determined and a legitimate contraction plan … that substantially eliminates environmental and economic concerns is presented by Ørsted.”
The release issued by the county board said it has engaged the law firm of Cultural Heritage Partners based in Virginia, the environmental consulting group Warwick Consulting based in Washington, D.C., and for the past two years has had former county administrator and former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Michael J. Donohue serving as special counsel and coordinator for offshore wind issues.
“Along with the City of Ocean City, the County of Cape May is fighting in the Appellate Division of the Superior Court,” Donohue stated in the county release. “The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, with its president, other members and staff, after announcing that they are ‘partners’ with Ørsted and wearing wind turbine blade lapel pins, deprived the county and Ocean City of required due process and acted in an indefensibly biased and unfair fashion in ruling in favor of the Danish wind company and against the duly elected officials of Ocean City and the county.
“The commissioners have authorized the exploration of legal challenges on all fronts, including challenges to NJDEP permits and a host of federal permits that will be issued over the coming months,” Donohue said. “The commissioners have also authorized an aggressive public education campaign, which the county will be undertaking as we move through the summer months so that all of our second homeowners and small-business operators can gain a better understanding of the potentially devastating impacts from the Ørsted Ocean Wind One project and other wind projects that are slated to be constructed along our beaches.”
County commissioners are encouraging people to visit capewindinfo.com and the county’s social media pages for more information and “to keep up to date on the county’s efforts in opposition to the industrialization of the Atlantic Ocean off of Cape May County.”
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff