Ocean City’s Response to Court Ruling on US Wind’s Motion to Dismiss the City’s Lawsuit Challenging BOEM’s Record of Decision Approving the US Wind Project

The Ocean City Mayor and Council, along with the 34 other co-plaintiffs challenging the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) Record of Decision approving the US Wind project, applaud the decision of Judge Gallagher and the United States District Court for the District of Maryland to deny US Wind’s motion to dismiss our case.

We prevailed on five major claims—under the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act. This ruling affirms our standing and allows our case against the U.S. Department of the Interior, challenging the legality of the agency’s approval of the Maryland Offshore Wind project, to proceed.

As we have stated for over eight years, this project threatens to devastate our tourism industry, commercial and recreational fishing sectors, and poses risks to national defense. It could lead to the deaths of hundreds of marine mammals, including the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale—all so that an Italian company can receive subsidies from the State of Maryland to produce unreliable and expensive electricity.

The Town of Ocean City and our co-plaintiffs stand united with our residents and property owners in the fight to protect our community, our economy, our ecosystem, our fishing industry, and everything that makes this place we call home special—today and for future generations.