The Trump administration announces plans to halt a Maryland offshore wind project, a move receiving mixed reception from Delaware leaders amid a regional energy shortfall.
The 114-turbine Maryland offshore wind project, led by company US Wind, is expected to generate up to 2.2 gigawatts of generating capacity, which could power over 718,000 homes on the Delmarva Peninsula.
While US Wind's primary partnership is with Maryland, a small strip of land on Delaware’s coast was chosen as the onshore landing point to bring generated power from the project onto the regional grid.
The cables would connect to a proposed electrical substation in Dagsboro on a parcel of land next to the decommissioned Indian River Power Plant.
Sussex County Council voted four to one to deny US Wind the necessary permit for the substation in December, despite Sussex County’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommending the application's approval.
US Wind appealed County Council’s decision to the Delaware Superior Court, but in the meantime, State Sen. Stephanie Hansen (D-Middletown) crafted a bill that would retroactively grant the permit by revoking the county’s ability to deny it.
Due a Republican-initiated compromise during the General Assembly's final days of session, Sen. Hansen's bill will not go into effect until Jan. 31, 2026, allowing the court some time to issue a decision on the appeal.
The project has drawn additional legal opposition from South Bethany resident Edward Bintz and the Town of Ocean City, Maryland in conjunction with several local organizations and entities.
Both of the lawsuits target the federal agencies that issued US Wind the necessary federal permits for the project under the Biden administration, arguing they were improperly granted largely due to environmental concerns.
But the Trump administration is signaling those lawsuits could become obsolete as the federal government intends to voluntarily vacate approval of the permits.
Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson and interim U.S. Attorney Julianne Murray argued in a late August Delaware U.S. District Court filing that the court should stay its case involving Mr. Bintz.
The request to pause litigation came with the explanation that the U.S. Department of the Interior intends to "reevaluate" its decision to approve US Wind's construction and operations plan for the offshore wind project.
Signaling its intention to withdraw approval of the permits by Sept. 12, the federal government also asked a judge to schedule the administrative proceedings for a "voluntary remand" in the Town of Ocean City lawsuit, meaning the court would send the case back to the appropriate administrative agencies for reconsideration.
In a statement, US Wind Vice President of External Affairs Nancy Sopko said, “Our construction and operations plan approval is the subject of ongoing litigation, but we remain confident that the federal permits we secured after a multi-year and rigorous public review process are legally sound.”
While Sen. Hansen, a staunch supporter of the offshore wind project and chair of the Senate Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee, condemns the Trump administration’s plans, she holds out hope the tides could change at any time, or at the least, under a future administration.
"I'm still hopeful that it could come to fruition, because what we're dealing with right now is just— the federal government is chaotic. You never know what's going to happen from day to day. This could certainly flip back in the other direction, and we have another administration after this," Sen. Hansen said. "So I think having the approval to move forward with the project is good in the future as well. We just need to be prepared. We need this project to be prepared to take off whenever it's able to take off."
But State Senate Republicans support the Trump administration's move to reconsider the permits. Sen. Republican Leader Gerald Hocker (R-Ocean View) says the decision reflects long-standing concerns voiced by coastal communities about both the potential economic and environmental impacts of the project.
“Delaware’s beaches are the backbone of our local economy, supporting thousands of jobs and generating millions in revenue annually,” Sen. Hocker said in a statement. “Just as importantly, this decision helps protect our fragile inland bays, which faced potential disruption from transmission cables slated to run through the Indian River. These concerns are finally being heard, and I’m grateful for the administration’s commitment to protecting both our coastal economy and our environment," Sen. Hocker said.
Gov. Matt Meyer says he's disappointed with the politicization of offshore wind power as the area's electric regional grid, operated by PJM, is facing serious generation shortfalls leading to high utility bills.
“I think actions the Trump administration is taking to block the offshore wind project that would feed into Delaware's grid and Maryland’s grid, the regional PJM grid, are mistaken. I think we need to do everything we can to increase generation. Unfortunately this has become a political football. It's not a political football. It's about our basic ability to turn on lights and to do so without great destruction to our environment," Gov. Meyer said.
Senate Republicans argue they are in support of clean energy alternatives, pointing to State Sen. Bryant Richardson's (R-Seaford) resolution creating a Nuclear Energy Feasibility Task Force, but say this particular offshore wind project would provide renewable energy credits to Maryland while "Delaware’s inland bays would bear the environmental cost of burying transmission cables beneath the Indian River Bay."
According to a signed benefits agreement between former Gov. John Carney and US Wind, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's State Energy Office will receive 150,000 renewable energy credits [RECs] each year associated with the wind generation, which will be "transferred to Delaware utilities to help them meet clean energy requirements, thus lowering customer bills."
The RECs have an estimated value of $76 million over the life of the offshore wind projects.
Sen. Hansen expresses further frustration with the Trump administration and general opposition to the project without an equivalent replacement project that could generate the same kind of power on the same timeline amid a regional energy crisis.
"I don't think they know what they're doing, and we are all going to pay the price — literally. There's nothing to replace it with. These big energy projects like this take many, many years to come to fruition, and it makes no sense when you're in an energy emergency, and you need energy as quickly as you can get it, to pull the plug on a large plan that has been years in the making," Sen. Hansen said.
She explains exploring natural gas, nuclear facilities and thermal substitutes would all take at least four to seven years based on available technology and limited production capabilities. Solar is one of the only clean energy alternatives that has found some footing in the First State.
"I don't think there's anything big like [offshore wind] that could come along on the same timeline or a quicker timeline. I think that we're looking at solar projects, maybe community solar projects, really pushing hard on residential solar projects as much as we can because we know that those are wildly popular with Delaware, and they're very effective," Sen. Hansen said. "We know the federal government is pulling away some of their support for that. So you know, my hope is that the state can step up and and provide additional support for solar, because we have to help our people. Clearly, the federal government is not going to save us, they're going to hurt us."
Gov. Meyer agrees that without the Maryland offshore wind project, it's really a "math question" as to how the First State can try and make up for the generation it could be slated to lose.
"How many megawatts are we going to lose if offshore wind doesn't go forward, and how are we going to replace that? How are we going to fill that energy bucket, if you will? It's a complex question because the wind, as I understand, was feeding not directly into Delaware's grid, but into the PJM grid. And so I just think as a matter of policy, we need to do everything we can to, without regard to the crazy partisan times we are in, to continue and push forward with generation. Some of that is solar, some of it is nuclear, some of it may be fossil fuels," the governor said.
US Wind's project faced another blow with the Trump administration's cancellation of $679 million for offshore wind projects.
Among the funding withdrawn was $47 million for a long-term monopile production facility called Sparrows Point Steel at Sparrows Point in Baltimore.
The funding withdrawal did not cut money allocated for the offshore wind turbines themselves, but instead revoked a federal grant that was intended to fund construction for the new steel fabrication facility, specifically equipped for producing materials for U.S. Wind's project.
