Sussex County joins lawsuit over US Wind project
Sussex County Council voted Dec. 16 to join a lawsuit filed by the Town of Fenwick Island challenging state laws that support the US Wind offshore wind power project.
The state in June voted in favor of bringing offshore wind power to a southern Delaware site, effectively overriding a rejection by Sussex County of a wind power substation next to the NRG plant near Dagsboro.
The state maintains wind power is a state energy issue not under control of the county.
After an executive session, Sussex County Council President Doug Hudson proposed the county join the lawsuit being filed by Fenwick Island challenging the legality of Senate Bill 159 and SB 199.
Council voted 3-1-1 to join Fenwick Island’s legal challenge. Hudson, Vice President John Rieley and Councilman Steve McCarron were in support; Councilwoman Jane Gruenebaum opposed and Councilman Matt Lloyd abstained.
“Mr. President, I am not comfortable making a decision, so I’m going to abstain,” Lloyd said. He did not elaborate during the meeting.
SB 159 requires the permitting of an electrical substation as an allowed conditional use in a heavy industrial zone under certain conditions set forth in the act. The electrical substation must be constructed to support a proposed renewable energy project of 250 megawatts or greater.
“This act is being given retroactive effect such that, if a county has previously denied an application for an electrical substation that would meet the requirements of this act, then the application shall be deemed granted provided that the electrical substation meets the requirements of this act,” according to a summary of the law.
SB 199 amended a previously approved effective date for the public utilities and electrical substation regulations related to the project and granted retroactive approval for substations building under specified rules.
Both bills were passed by the state Senate and House, and signed June 30 by Gov. Matt Meyer.
US Wind’s plan comprises up to 121 wind turbine generators, up to four offshore substations, up to four offshore export cables and one meteorological tower in ocean waters due east of Ocean City, Md.
The offshore export cables are proposed to land at 3R’s Beach, north of Bethany Beach, and interconnect to a proposed substation that would be constructed on land adjacent to the Indian River power plant near Millsboro.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
