Cape May County, NJ is best known for its Atlantic beach resorts from Ocean City at the northeast end of the county to Cape May at its southern tip. The county has recently emerged as the epicenter of resistance to offshore wind development. On Tuesday, the County sued the Federal government over the approval of the Construction and Operations Plan and issuance of the Incidental Harassment Authorization for the Ocean Wind 1 project.
As the first turbines rise offshore Nantucket, this column in the Nantucket Current includes some interesting comments. A couple of quotes:
Additionally, the Maria Mitchell Association and the Nantucket Preservation Trust, co-signers on the Good Neighbor Agreement, canceled scheduled interviews despite the fact that the only thing rising quicker than the first visible wind turbine off Nantucket’s south shore is the local level of uneasiness associated with this eyesore.
In my opinion, the long-term sustainability of offshore wind farms simply doesn’t add up. Seaside communities like Nantucket will become the visual victims of the federal government’s desire to have 30 gigawatts of offshore wind production by 2030. Especially from a financial perspective, what sounded so good a few years ago doesn’t appear so rosy today.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 