Maryland must harness offshore wind
Baltimore Sun, Evan Vaughan, Executive Director, MAREC Action
As mentioned in a recent article in The Baltimore Sun, Maryland must invest in clean energy to meet increasing electrical demand in the coming years (“Debate heats up as Ocean City wind farm moves forward,” June 7).
Despite some of the claims from opponents of offshore wind, there are no real-world examples of offshore wind negatively impacting tourism. Operating offshore wind farms have been shown, time and time again, to be a tourist attraction and a net positive for property values. Rather than speculating about what-ifs, we should focus on what we know.
We know that without investing in offshore wind, the cost of energy will continue to rise unpredictably. No single solution can completely solve the cost challenges, but wind is the single biggest step forward Maryland can take to stabilize prices with a zero-fuel-cost energy source.
We know offshore wind produces reliable electricity from Virginia and New England to Europe and Asia. Here in the United States, it’s hard to think of another industry that has been so heavily regulated and studied as offshore wind. US Wind’s proposed project near Ocean City, including their leased area of seabed, has been studied for over a decade by federal and state governments.
Wind energy’s impacts are well understood and US Wind’s project was approved after fair consideration of costs and benefits to different environmental, economic and cultural resources. At the same time, there is also no disputing the significant environmental and human health costs of continuing to burn and invest in fossil fuel energy. These energy sources still play a role in our energy supply but it is preposterous to single out offshore wind as uniquely harmful.
A recent poll found that 51% of Eastern Shore residents support building offshore wind farms while only 37% say they would oppose them. Respondents agreed by significant margins that offshore wind would have positive impacts in several areas including 70% who said it would benefit jobs and 67% who cited health benefits.
What alternatives do offshore wind opponents propose? Continuing to buy more — and more expensive — fossil fuels from out-of-state sources should be a non-starter. It will take many years to bring new gas plants or nuclear plants online due to supply chain, siting and transmission challenges.
It’s critical that Maryland take advantage of this homegrown energy opportunity that is right in front of us. All the facts point in the same direction — offshore wind is the right choice for Maryland.
— Evan Vaughan, Silver Spring
The writer is executive director of MAREC Action, a coalition of solar, wind, and energy storage developers and manufacturers promoting renewable energy growth in the Mid-Atlantic region.