Is Delaware really getting the monetary benefit from ocean wind it deserves?
The State of Delaware has made a big announcement about the upcoming deal to bring the power generated from an offshore wind farm to our shores. I wonder if the state is really getting everything it should from this deal.
Some may remember that in the mid to late 2000s, Bluewater Energy won the lease bid from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to build an offshore wind farm. At that time, according to the maps, the lease was located in Delaware waters, which meant Delaware would get royalties from three leased grounds. I know this because during our offshore bird-watching trips, we used a BOEM map to tell us whether we were in Delaware waters or Maryland waters. We spent lots of time walking the line between Delaware and Maryland waters to keep all the birders happy with their sighting count in each of the state waters. When we resumed those trips, after the recession of 2008-09, I noticed the maps had changed. Instead of the line of demarcation being a due east extension of the state line, the line had changed to a northeast direction. It was just enough of a change to include all the leased bottom from the original Bluewater lease. Bottom which is now owned by Ørsted and under the control of Maryland, not Delaware. Because of this map change, Delaware no longer has control over those subaqueous lease lands. This means that all the millions of dollars in royalties from the leases will go to Maryland instead of Delaware.
The people of Delaware should be asking when and why the BOEM map changed. Is that a surcharge on our electric bills here in Delaware to help finance the wind farm? I grant you there are about 10 times the electric customers in Maryland versus Delaware. So could it be a monetary reason for the map change? Or perhaps the powers that be who changed the map felt there would be less chance of resistance to offshore windmill placement closer to the Delaware beaches in shallow water, rather than farther offshore in deeper water like they are in Virginia, if they are conveniently now in Maryland waters?
The original lease area is in a place of historically live bottom with corals, sea trees and areas of glacial stone. This area has really come back to life in recent years after 30-plus years of recovery from draggers who rolled the bottom (which is like a farmer plowing a field) in the mid to late ’80s. It is also a major migration zone for many species of mammals, fish and pelagic birds. I, unfortunately, get the feeling that the powers in charge will push this through no matter what the costs to people and sea life. I feel the citizens, businesses and wildlife of Delaware, and the nearshore waters, are coming up with the short end of the deal in this matter.
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