Feds Taking Bids From Offshore Wind Developers Along Maryland's Coast

[Fishing Report]

Feds Taking Bids From Offshore Wind Developers Along Maryland's Coast
from Bay Daily by Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Windturbine The federal government is taking bids from developers who want to build wind turbines off Maryland’s Eastern Shore, about 10 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean.

Would you favor or oppose the construction of a wind farm off the coast of Ocean City or the Assateague National Seashore? The turbines would be visible from the boardwalk in Ocean City on clear days, but they would look small –- about the size of your fingernail, if you held your arm outstretched and used it as a guide. The O'Malley administration has advocated offshore wind as the main way to achieve the state's goal of getting 20 percent of the state's electricity needs from renewable power by 2022, according to a report in The Baltimore Sun.

In part because of concerns about visual impacts, an earlier proposal to build a wind farm in Massachusetts’ Nantucket Sound proved highly controversial. But so far, few opponents have voiced concerns about building off of Ocean City and Assateague. A Baltimore Sun survey of readers (as of 4 p.m. today) was registering 78 percent in favor of the federal government offering the offshore areas to wind developers, and 20 percent opposed, with 2 percent of readers unsure.

Are wind turbines ugly or beautiful, in your mind? Efficient or a big green boondoggle?

The low price of natural gas -- caused in part by extensive new drilling in a shale formation that lies beneath Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other regional states -- is making it harder for wind projects to compete on a cost basis. The recession is also taking a toll on the construction of wind farms. The New York Times reported this week: "Even as many politicians, environmentalists and consumers want renewable energy and reduced dependence on fossil fuels, a growing number of projects are being canceled or delayed because governments are unwilling to add even small amounts to consumers’ electricity bills. Deals to buy renewable power have been scuttled or slowed in states including Florida, Idaho and Kentucky as well as Virginia. By the end of the third quarter, year-to-date installations of new wind power dropped 72 percent from 2009 levels, according to the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group," The Times reports.

What do you think about wind power? Would the knowledge that the ocean front is being used to generate clean electricity make you feel good on your to the beach? Or would think twice about visiting these tourist desinations because you could see a line of wind turbines in the distance?

Give me your spin.

By Tom Pelton

Chesapeake Bay Foundation