Wind farm case continues in Maryland District Court

Parties in a federal lawsuit filed against a wind turbine company and the U.S. Department of Interior continue filings as the case moves through Maryland District Court.

Among the latest, US Wind filed a response Dec. 5 to a motion by U.S. Department of Interior – a defendant in the case along with US Wind – which had moved to dismiss cross claims by US Wind.

The court Dec. 4 had already denied the department’s motion to vacate the case and be dismissed. Following the transfer of power from President Joe Biden to President Donald Trump, the federal government no longer supports wind power the way it did during the Biden administration.

The court Dec. 4 determined the federal department must continue with the case filed by the mayor and city council of Ocean City, Md., along with other business and watermen groups, but dismissed the government’s motion to vacate without prejudice, meaning it could be brought up again.

In US Wind’s latest filing, it argues that millions of dollars and over a decade of planning is required to build a wind farm, and that any delay can “impose a palpable and considerable hardship” on the project.

“Delay in resolving US Wind’s dispute with the government could also force US Wind to surrender its interconnection queue positions, further delaying completion of construction,” court records state.

US Wind also took issue with the government opinion that defendants are on the same side and “insufficiently adverse.”

“That is wrong. US Wind and the government are clearly adverse because the government has switched sides and joined plaintiffs in contending that the [construction and operations plan] approval and related federal approvals are invalid,” court records state. “The federal approval cross claims are essential to preserving the court’s jurisdiction over disputes at the heart of this case.”