Windmill Information Session Set In Ocean City

OCEAN CITY, NJ — A Public Information Session all about offshore wind in Cape May County is set for March 15 at 6 p.m. at the Ocean City Tabernacle, Director of the Cape May County Board of Commissioners Len Desiderio and Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian announced Friday.

“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 Orsted to place windmills off the shores of Cape May County,” Desiderio said. “On Wednesday, March 15th, 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 Orsted to set aside Home Rule. Our partnership continues, including this first of several Public Information Sessions.”

The Home Rule issues come from the BPU granting easements and permits necessary for the project using an amendment to New Jersey's offshore wind law removing most local control over where offshore wind projects come ashore. Read more: Controversial Offshore Wind Transmission Line Approved In Ocean City

“We tried very hard to have productive discussions with the wind developer,” said Gillian. “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 15th will give us an opportunity to update the public and, most importantly, to listen to the concerns that people have.”

Desiderio and Gillian will be joined by former New Jersey Superior Court Judge, Michael J. Donohue, who is Special Counsel to the County of Cape May on windmill issues and other County and Ocean City staff.

Interested members of the public are encouraged to go to capewindinfo.com and register for the Public Information Session.