Comments sought on wind farm’s environmental impact statement

A wind farm proposed due east of Ocean City, Md., that may come ashore at 3R’s Beach in Delaware Seashore State Park took a step forward recently when the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a draft environmental impact statement.

BOEM announced Sept. 29 that the EIS on US Wind’s construction and operations plan will be published Friday, Oct. 6. That notice will open a 45-day public comment period that ends at 11:59 p.m., Monday, Nov. 20.

The EIS was made available online prior to the official publication. The 562-page document says it assesses the potential biological, socioeconomic, physical and cultural impacts that could result from the construction and installation, operations and maintenance, and conceptual decommissioning of the project.

US Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski called the announcement the most significant step forward in the history of Maryland offshore wind.

“BOEM’s draft environmental impact statement sets us on a path toward starting construction on our offshore wind projects in 2025, putting Maryland’s goals that much closer to reality,” said Grybowski in a prepared statement Sept. 29.

According to BOEM, US Wind is seeking approval for the construction and operation of the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, which includes three planned phases. Two of those phases, MarWin and Momentum Wind, have offshore renewable energy certificates from the State of Maryland.

The company’s proposal for all three phases includes installation of up to 121 turbines, up to four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological tower, and up to four offshore export cable corridors with landfall occurring within Delaware Seashore State Park.

The lease area is about 8.7 nautical miles offshore from Maryland and about 9 nautical miles from Sussex County.

If approved, according to BOEM, the development and construction phases of the project could support up to an estimated 2,679 jobs annually over seven years. The project could generate between 1,100 and 2,200 megawatts of clean, renewable energy to the Delmarva Peninsula, which could power up to 770,000 homes, said the federal agency.

During the 45-day comment period, BOEM will hold two in-person public meetings and two virtual meetings. The first in-person public meeting is set for 5 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 24, at Ocean City Elementary, 12828 Center Drive, Ocean City, Md. The second in-person meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 26, at Indian River High School, 29772 Armory Road, Dagsboro. The virtual public meetings will be held at 1 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 19, and at 5 p.m., Monday, Oct. 30. Registration for the virtual public meetings is required.

The draft environmental impact statement is available under the renewable energy tab at boem.gov.