Maryland disputes EPA's claim of errors in wind energy project permit

CBS News

6 days ago

In a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey, regional administrator for the Maryland Department of the Environment, insisted that there were no issues with a permit for a Maryland wind energy project.
The response comes after the EPA last week said it found errors with the MDE's decision to issue a permit to U.S. Wind, the Maryland-based developer of an offshore wind project.
In a letter to the MDE last week, the EPA said the project permit isn't valid because the MDE incorrectly stated that appeals to the permit should be filed under Maryland's state process instead of the federal process required by EPA regulations.
But Blarcom-Lackey disputed the claim.
"I would like to clarify that Maryland has been issuing permits under EPA-delegated or EPA-approved authority under the Clean Air Act for decades," Blarcom-Lackey wrote. "Long-settled procedure dictates that state-issued permits are appealed under State law, not Federal law. MDE adhered to both State and Federal law and precedent when issuing this permit and designating state law as the appropriate venue for permit appeals."
She added that Maryland met the requirements needed to demonstrate that it has adequate authority under federal regulations to implement and enforce the permit program, including the proper procedures for handling appeals.
In the EPA's letter last week, the department said the MDE must clarify that the permit was issued under federal code and remove incorrect appeal instructions from the permit itself and from its website.
Blarcom-Lackey says MDE won't be modifying its permit decision to include the EPA's requested language.
She also said that the information regarding the appeals process on the MDE's website was originally included at the EPA's request — but has now been removed as requested.
The Maryland-based energy company U.S. Wind received its construction permit for the major offshore wind project in December.
The construction plan includes building 114 wind turbines off the coast of Ocean City, which would generate up to 2 gigawatts ("GW") of offshore wind power and power more than 718,000 homes in the region.
It would also include up to four offshore export cables that run from the lease area to the shore, a meteorological tower, and offshore export cable corridors.
The goal of the project is to help supply the increased demand in the energy industry, according to U.S. Wind.
The project is the 10th commercial offshore wind project nationwide.
In addition to the turbines, U.S. Wind also plans to establish a new production facility, Sparrows Point Steel, at the former site of Bethlehem Steel in Baltimore County.