Desiderio, Gillian to host one forum at Ocean City Tabernacle March 15
OCEAN CITY – The director of the Cape May County Board of Commissioners, Len Desiderio, and Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian will hold a public information session at 6 p.m. March 15 at the Ocean City Tabernacle.
“There have been a lot of questions about what steps the County of Cape May has taken in connection with the efforts of the wind company Ørsted to place windmills off the shores of Cape May County,” Desiderio said. “On Wednesday, March 15, we will provide the public with information, and we want to hear the public’s questions and concerns. We have been working with the City of Ocean City for many months now to challenge the process at the Board of Public Utilities used by Ørsted to set aside Home Rule. Our partnership continues, including this first of several public information sessions.”
The wind company Ørsted recently filed petitions against Cape May County and Ocean City before the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU). Despite the objections of both the county and Ocean City as well as those of the Office of New Jersey Rate Counsel, the BPU pushed aside the elected officials of the County and Ocean City and gave Ørsted permission to file environmental permit applications and took interests in public lands away from the County and Ocean City and gave them to Ørsted, according to Desiderio and Gillian.
“We tried very hard to have productive discussions with the wind developer,” Gillian said, “but they went to the legislature and got a bill through to take away Home Rule and then they used that to get the BPU, an unelected state agency, to take away the authority of the duly elected leaders of Cape May County and Ocean City and to give this foreign big-wind company what they want. Things are moving too fast and with too much at stake if we don’t get it right.
“Our public information session on March 15 will give us an opportunity to update the public and, most importantly, to listen to the concerns that people have,” Gillian said.
Desiderio and Gillian will be joined by Michael J. Donohue, who is special counsel to the County of Cape May on windmill issues and other county and Ocean City staff.
Members of the public are encouraged to go to capewindinfo.com and register for the public information session. Another session hosted by U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew is 2 p.m. March 16 at the Wildwoods Convention Center.