OPINION

Wind energy gets broad support in Maryland. Here's why

Maryland seeks to be a leader in renewable energy – wind and solar both.

MIKE PRETL
READER

Re: “Ocean City wind plan causes blustery debate,” Mar. 28

A recent news story describing the March 25 Public Service Commission hearing on Ocean City’s offshore wind project may have left some readers with a misimpression — of major controversy surrounding two proposals to site electricity-generating wind farms 13 miles into the Atlantic off the Ocean City coast.

In fact, about 75 local residents attended the PSC session, but only three spoke in opposition.

The predominant sentiment of others in the room was supportive — and many residents of the Shore are strongly supportive. Wind as a form of renewable energy is the rare issue where all segments of the community — environmentalists and businesses, farmers and homeowners — seem of one mind.

The reason is simple: jobs — and the prospect of new, clean, well-paying jobs, in a burgeoning industry which does not pollute the atmosphere or have a detrimental effect on humans or wildlife, but is predicted to contribute mightily to the local economy.

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By far the leading area today favoring wind energy lies to the west, with Texas and California employing more than 35,000 in the wind industry, garnering combined investment of nearly $50 billion.

By contrast, wind energy in the east is in its infancy. The Atlantic seaboard states are now competing for these good jobs and new investment.

Company experts predict as many as 5,000 jobs (including maritime employment) will come to Maryland and Delaware for just one of the offshore wind proposals currently being considered by the PSC. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates 41 percent of the nation’s electricity could be generated from turbines strategically placed in the relatively shallow waters off the Atlantic coast.

The cost to users of this clean energy will be miniscule. Under a Maryland statutory formula devised in 2013, the increase in residential electric rates cannot exceed $1.50 per month for a larger project, or 34 cents monthly for a smaller project — while business charges can increase no more than 1.5 percent.

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Maryland seeks to be a leader in renewable energy — wind and solar both. In February, the General Assembly voted to override Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of a law passed in 2016 that would have raised Maryland’s “renewable portfolio standard” from 20 percent to 25 percent of our energy load by 2020. A new “clean energy jobs initiative” will be proposed next year, seeking to raise the RPS even higher, to 50 percent of the total energy load by 2030.

Many of the clean energy jobs stimulated by this legislation will inevitably come to Delmarva.

Regardless of political affiliation, our elected leaders and all of our citizens should rally in support of these health- and economy-promoting initiatives.

Mike Pretl lives in Riverton.