Ocean City—Representatives from business, Congress, and environmental organizations came together today in support of offshore wind power for Maryland. A new report finds that a wind farm off the coast of Ocean City, MD would reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions and help maintain a reliable electricity system with long-term price stability.
"We need to reduce global warming pollution, stabilize electricity prices, and help boost our economy. Offshore wind can help us accomplish all those things. It's time to start turning Maryland's bold clean energy vision into a reality today," said Tommy Landers, Policy Advocate for Environment Maryland.
In a written statement Rep. Frank Kratovil (MD-1) added, "This continued research is positive not only because of what it means for the environment but because of what it means for the economy. If we can create, manufacture, and install new green energy opportunities like wind here in the United States we will create a new job market for the 21st century and put people back to work in places like Ocean City."
The report, The Power of Offshore Wind: A Source of Clean, Reliable, Affordable Electricity for Maryland's Future, finds that energy produced by an offshore wind farm would help stabilize energy prices for Marylanders, who have seen more than a 75% increase in their electricity prices since 2002. The price of wind power is predictable for decades in advance, providing protection against fluctuating fossil fuel costs.
"Fossil fuels are fouling the environment at a rapid pace, so we need as much clean energy as we can get," said Macky Stansell, owner of Macky's Bayside Bar & Grill in Ocean City, MD.
Maryland has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 25% below 2006 levels by 2020, and offshore wind could help achieve those reductions. One offshore wind farm with 600 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity could prevent more than 2 million metric tons of global warming pollution per year, an amount equivalent to 4 percent of Maryland's emissions from electricity generation.
"Besides renewable energy, the economic impact would be huge, in the initial stages of construction and during the maintenance of the turbines. It would add jobs, and that's always a huge plus, especially in this down economy," added Stansell.
In a statement Susan Jones, Executive Director of the Ocean City Hotels-Motels-Restaurants Association, wrote, "Over the last decade, our members have been increasingly concerned with the rising costs of energy. Developing affordable alternative energy sources is a necessary step in confronting the issue."
Sen. Joseph Tydings, who represented Maryland in the U.S. Senate from 1965-1971, said, "Maryland, like Delaware and Virginia, faces critical energy shortages over the next decade. Wind farms off the coast of Maryland's shores will provide hundreds of high paid construction and operation jobs for the entire lower eastern shore - indeed for the entire eastern half of our state."
Environment Maryland's report release comes a month after Governor Martin O'Malley joined with Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia and Governor Jack Markell of Delaware to announce a partnership for encouraging wind power expansion in their states, and just days after Maryland state government and universities committed to using solar and wind for a fifth of their energy needs.
Kathy Phillips, Executive Director of Assateague Coastal Trust, said "Every time we turn on a light switch in Ocean City, we are using electricity generated from mountain top removal coal production that blows the tops off of mountains in the Appalachian range. The Milford, DE NRG electric power plant just north of us is powered by coal. It is past time for all of us to ask for cleaner, more sustainable methods of energy generation here in the coastal watershed."
The report also details plans for offshore wind projects in other states along the east coast. For example, Delaware's offshore wind farm will spur the creation of 500 jobs during construction and 80 to 100 jobs for turbine operation and maintenance.
Environment Maryland called on the Maryland Public Service Commission to solicit proposals for a wind farm to be built off Maryland's coast. The group said the wind farm should be constructed by 2014 to help move Maryland towards its clean energy future.
###
