Shore towns take victory lap at collapse of wind deal while others seethe

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — To many who live and vacation at the Jersey Shore, especially those who have been thinking of little but wind turbines over the last two years, the late night news from Denmark seemed like “the miracle of Halloween.”

To others, it was nothing short of a horror show.

The Danish company’s abrupt cancellation Tuesday of its two massive wind energy projects off the Jersey coast led to rejoicing in Cape May County, where local, state, county, and federal elected officials fought the projects at every turn.

Len Desiderio, chair of the county Board of Commissioners and longtime mayor of Sea Isle City, called it a “very, very happy day in Cape May County.” He said it was “a great day for the Atlantic Ocean … and for all of us here in our beautiful county.”

Flanked by county and state officials, including county-appointed special counsel for offshore wind Michael Donohue, at a morning-after news conference, Desiderio described the underdog Cape May County “fortress” defeating big wind company Orsted, mostly by filling lawsuits.

“Many people have said to us, don’t take on this company,” Desiderio said. “Don’t take on Orsted. They have the White House. They have the State House. They didn’t know about the courthouse. Here in Cape May County, we gave them a battle.”

But not everybody was taking a victory lap.

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. called the news “devastating and disappointing,” noting that city residents had been participating in a training program in expectation of the jobs from the offshore wind farms.

Orsted spent millions remediating a former oil company site and building a 16,000-square-foot building in the city’s Bungalow Park neighborhood to be used as an operational and maintenance hub.

“We were looking forward to bringing a new industry here to the great city of Atlantic City, providing opportunity and careers to our residents,” Small said.

Caren Fitzpatrick, a Democratic Atlantic County commissioner who is pro-wind energy and running against State Sen. Vince Polistina, a Republican, in the Nov. 7 legislative election, did not mince words.

“There is no doubt today’s news is the result of an ugly and deceitful public relations campaign by partisan Republican mouthpieces with ties to big oil,” she said in a statement, citing Polistina and the area’s anti-wind U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who, for his part, was calling the news a “massive win” for South Jersey.

» READ MORE: How pro-fossil fuel groups helped sway the public against offshore wind in New Jersey

Still, she and others said the future of offshore wind remains strong in New Jersey. “While they take their victory laps, the rest of us will continue working to ensure the success of our region and protect our environment,” she said.

Up in Belmar, Paul Eidman, a supporter of Anglers for Offshore Winds and the founder of Menhaden Defenders, a group active in the successful quest to bring back the bunker that whales feed on off the Jersey coast, said the Orsted news was a big setback. The charter boat captain has long been a supporter of wind energy, but watched as a lot of his fellow anglers become “anti’s.”

“The cancellation of these two N.J. projects means dirtier air and water,” Eidman said, fewer “good local jobs, less energy independence, and more frequent and intense storms. Our future generations are counting on us to fight for their future.”

» READ MORE: The captain for wind turbines and whales

Robin Shaffer, an Ocean City resident and school board member, struck a cautious note about what he considered good news.

Shaffer is also spokesperson for Protect Our Coast, one of numerous community groups that mobilized to oppose the wind turbines, initially on the fear that they were contributing to whale deaths, then increasingly shifting to issues of tourism, visibility, increasing electricity costs, and general “industrialization of the ocean.”

» READ MORE: New Jersey’s other big wind developer says it’s committed to its project but also faces ‘extraordinary challenges’

“Because Orsted will retain the rights to the development of the seabed,” he said, “we must be cautious that [Tuesday’s] announcement is not just another delay in the industrial development of the ocean off our shores.”

Shaffer added: “Without billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies, these projects could not stand on their own. When you consider the fact that the offshore wind industry would have had a negligible impact on carbon emissions and the extreme cost to our coastal environment, Ocean Wind 1 and 2 were a fool’s errand.”

The grassroots opposition galvanized people who had previously not been involved in politics or causes, officials noted. Desiderio said wind turbines were the only thing people wanted to talk to him about over the last two years.

Lee Evans of Cape May Court House attended the county news conference with a big smile on her face. A member of Save the East Coast and Protect Our Coast New Jersey, she said, “I couldn’t sleep last night I was so excited.”

“I’ve been on the boardwalk with signs for 2½ years,” she said. She and others recognize the need for clean energy and believe that nuclear fusion and related energies might be the solution. “We need to do it the right way,” she said.

Melanie Collette, who is running for Cape May County Commission, said county residents could not afford a jump in electricity costs and what county officials believe would have been a 15% decline in the overall economy due to the wind farms.

“We have a huge community of senior citizens,” she said. “People think of the beach and think we’re all rich here. That is not the case at all.”

In Upper Township, a Cape May County town that had been negotiating with Orsted on plans to host a power substation, Mayor John Newman said Orsted had been refusing to address and compensate the town on any impacts before the township gave final approval.

“In the last few weeks, those negotiations have taken a decidedly adversarial tone when Orsted incorrectly alleged the township had no legal basis for its position,” he said in a statement.

While Desiderio struck a defiant tone, warning that “if anyone thinks they’re going to walk in their footprints on our beach, better be beware,” other county officials took a more pragmatic view.

Donohue said Orsted’s mistake was not dealing directly with local officials from the start to address their concerns. He said another wind developer, or a renewed bid by Orsted, which still owns the offshore leases, should not repeat that same mistake.

“The message to folks who want to come in is, come talk to us first,” he said. “Don’t get the president and the governor and the legislator to decide things.”