OCEAN CITY — Dozens of people lined up holding hands along the water’s edge July 15 in a show of solidarity against the development of offshore wind farms.
Dubbed Hands Across the Beaches, the protest was organized by Protect Our Coast NJ, a grassroots organization that has been among the most vocal critics of the wind farm Ocean Wind 1 proposed by Ørsted. Organizers said other communities were also involved.
The protest came a little more than a week after the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) granted Ørsted its Record of Decision, which Ocean Wind officials called a major milestone in the federal environmental review process.
The Danish energy company now needs only a Construction and Operations Plan (COP) to begin building the first of its two planned wind farms with as many as 98 massive turbines 15 miles off the coast.
Land-based work is expected to begin this fall, including transmission lines running through Ocean City to Upper Township, where they would connect with the power grid in Beesleys Point at the site of the former B.L. England Generating Station. The offshore work is expected to begin in 2024.
Gov. Phil Murphy, a major proponent of wind farms off the coast to produce renewable energy for the state, is hoping to achieve “a 100 percent clean energy economy by 2035 and 11,000 MW of offshore wind power by 2040.”
The crowds gathered on the boardwalk before lining up starting beneath the Ocean City Fishing Club’s pier at 14th Street and stretching north toward Atlantic City.
Roseanne Serowatka, organizer with Protect Our Coast NJ, said the event offered the public a chance to be heard.
“This is a chance for the residents to say, ‘We want to protect our ocean.’ This is a beautiful natural resource and it’s our responsibility to protect it,” she said.
Joseph and Debra Fuiman, who live in Delaware County, Pa., and have a home on the island, said they were concerned about what construction and operation of the wind turbines may do to the environment.
“We’re just afraid. At least take a stoppage and see what’s going on. Killing whales, dolphins … what’s going on? Something’s up,” Joseph Fuiman said. “I hope it helps create some electric, but is it worth it?”
He said he likes to fish and is concerned about the impact on the fishery.
“It’s hard enough to catch a fish now,” he said.
Sean Hamlon of Beesleys Point in Upper Township attended the rally with his daughter Erin. Noting “the power chord is coming right in front of our house,” he said the wind farm is a losing prospect.
“What’s the return on investment? I don’t think the return on capital is any more than 1 percent at best. They are going to invest millions and it’s going to produce fractions of that in electricity,” he said.
Hamlon said the loss would fall on ratepayers, estimating the cost per kilowatt hour would double.
He also said they are unreliable.
“These things broke down in Texas and people died, and that’s with windmills on land. Now go fix one out there 15 miles offshore with 12-foot seas in a 30-mph snowstorm,” he said. “We need the electricity at the most important times, and the most important times are when these windmills break down. That’s what happened in Texas. When you really need them, they’re broken.”
Hamlon said he supports renewable energy and caring for the Earth but “I don’t know if this was properly thought out and I’m worried that there is Big Business happening right before our eyes that shouldn’t be happening.”
Dave and Mary Claire Shuster of Ocean City said they are worried about more than just the island.
“What they are doing is not really right; it’s not proven. They need to have a test windmill or something like that. It’s been pushed too hard. There are too many unknowns,” Dave Shuster said.
“They are destroying the environment to save the environment,” Mary Claire Shuster added.
He said it will take years to make up for the carbon footprint of surveying and building the production facility in Paulsboro, and the turbines will need constant upkeep.
“The windmills on the ocean with that environment, they just won’t last,” Dave Shuster said. “If it was worth the environmental impact, you say ‘OK, it’s worth it,’ but it’s not. It’s not going to be sustainable.”
Mayor Jay Gillian stopped by to offer his support.
“I think this is great. This is grassroots and what America is really all about,” he said. “When politicians and leaders take away our rights, they take away our voice, this is what happens.”
Gillian said the whole process has been forced on the region without proper research being completed.
“Ocean City was ground zero here when they took away our home rule,” he said. “It took 10 years to get beach replenishment and we are putting windmills out there that are going to have much more of an effect, and how long did it take? It just makes no sense.”
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff