Offshore Wind Developer Sues Jersey Shore Town Over Transmission Line

OCEAN CITY, NJ — A lawsuit has been filed against Ocean City in the latest update on the battle between city officials and Ocean Wind 1 regarding a transmission cable to connect the wind farm to the power grid on land.

"The lawsuit continues a pattern that Ocean Wind presumes the offshore wind project is a done deal, and they will resort to any means to maintain their desired schedule," Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian said in a statement slamming the project. He argued that the lawsuit is another way that the developers are trying to push the project through.

The Board of Public Utilities (BPU) found that the transmission cable that would come ashore on 35th Street was "reasonably necessary" for the offshore wind farm back in September, overriding Ocean City's authority in the matter to approve it. READ MORE: Controversial Offshore Wind Transmission Line Approved In Ocean City

The cable has long been a source of tension between city officials and the offshore wind developers, as Ocean City has tried to get them to take a less harmful route called the Great Egg Harbor route. Gillian noted in his statement that the city has appealed the BPU's override, saying that additional routes were not given proper consideration.

According to the lawsuit, Ocean Wind 1 filed a permit application with the city on March 8, 2023 to open portions of 35th Street to "perform utility and environmental investigations."

This work is necessary for the continuing construction of the project and would take about two weeks to complete with work being done only on weekdays, according to the lawsuit.

But the city has not issued the permit, according to the lawsuit, and on March 26, Business Administrator George Savastano told Ocean Wind 1 that Ocean City would not issue the permit and said that the city "will be seeking an order staying the issuance of permits pending a decision in the appeal of the [BPU's] order. The permit will not be issued until that motion has been decided."

"Rather than await the decision of the Appellate Division, Ocean Wind is demanding street opening permits to pursue the route that is the subject of the appeal," Gillian said.

The lawsuit claims that since the Ocean City Police Department approved the traffic control plan for this work, there is no "bona fide public safety reasons" to not issue the permit, which is the only way under law Ocean City could deny the permit.

And Ocean Wind 1 also claims that by not issuing the permit, the city is de facto denying it and delaying construction that they had hoped to complete before the tourist season, according to the lawsuit.

Even though Ocean City asked for a stay, it has not been granted, and "it would have no impact on the Project's statutory right to obtain a road opening permit," the lawsuit says.

But Ocean City claims that Ocean Wind 1 has no right to the permit as there are still state and federal approvals needed for the project to move forward.

"The application to open Ocean City's streets comes before the federal decision on whether the project can be built in the first place," Gillian said. "It came before the decision on whether the project can cross state tidal lands."

The lawsuit demands that the permit be issued by June 16, 2023.