Why Should Delaware Care?
Electricity rates have skyrocketed in the mid-Atlantic region since COVID, but a proposed offshore wind farm near Ocean City, Md., has sparked widespread opposition from many Sussex County businesses and residents. The debate has become one of the thorniest political issues on the Delmarva Peninsula – on both sides of the state line.
Last week, more than two dozen Democrats lined up behind a proposed bill that would retroactively strip Sussex County of its ability to deny a permit for a massive offshore wind project, injecting a new debate over local control into the future of offshore wind in Delaware.
Those proponents include the influential chair of the Senate Environment, Energy and Transportation Committee as well as the House representative for the Lewes and Rehoboth Beach area, where the debate over offshore wind has run hot.
In response, one member of the Sussex County Council said the bill, if passed, would set a precedent for an erosion of local control over permitting issues.
A spokesman for the Sussex County Council also told Spotlight Delaware that the county as a whole has concerns with the legislation and “the intent behind it.” The council is set to consider a resolution Tuesday to assert “support for local governance.”
It all follows a dramatic move late last year when members of Sussex County Council rejected a permit for a substation that would be crucial to the completion of an Atlantic Ocean wind farm, visible from Delaware and Maryland beaches. The permit application, which was rejected in a 4-1 vote, was at the center of a months-long debate in Sussex County.
If approved, it would have allowed Renewable Development, a subsidiary of US Wind, to connect high-voltage cables from the Indian River to a new substation adjacent to the former Indian River Power Plant in Dagsboro.
US Wind, a Maryland energy company owned in part by an Italian infrastructure firm, has appealed the permit rejection to state courts — the case is still working through motions — but the new state legislative effort – Senate Bill 159 – is seeking to fast-track a solution.
The bill requires permitting approval of electric substations in a heavy industrial zone as long as it supports a renewable energy generation project of at least 250 megawatts – essentially pigeonholing it to offshore wind. It is also explicitly retroactive for any such eligible project that has been denied dating back to August 2023, once again referring to the US Wind project.
The bill was filed on May 21, but will be first heard in a Monday afternoon hearing of the Senate Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee. Such legislative hearings don’t normally occur on Mondays – keying how quickly Democrats are keen to push the measure through the waning days of the session that ends June 30.
Democrats seek to address energy needs
State Sen. Stephanie Hansen (D-Middletown), who chairs the Senate committee and is a leader on environmental and energy issues, said in a statement that the bill seeks to address an “imminent energy reliability problem” for Delaware.
“We have been warned by our regional transmission grid operator, PJM, that we are facing energy reliability issues that, if not addressed quickly and through big measures, could mean not only much higher energy prices than we have already seen, but the lack of sufficient energy when we need it,” she said. “This is where the offshore wind project comes into play.”
Hansen noted that the General Assembly has passed legislation in recent years supporting the development of offshore wind, including creating a procurement system to purchase the energy and establishing renewable energy development goals that are virtually only achievable with offshore wind in the mix.
Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall (D-Rehoboth Beach/Lewes), who is the prime House sponsor on the bill, said in a Facebook post that it will “enable the US Wind project to move forward by putting an end to the obstruction of Sussex County Council.”
“This bill does not violate ‘local control.’ Instead, it removes illegitimate barriers to a project that will benefit the entire state,” she wrote. “We cannot afford to wait years to resolve this issue. That is why the state legislature has decided to act.”
Snyder-Hall limited who can comment on the social media post, according to Facebook.
Locals, Republicans rebut move
For some Sussex County Council members, however, the move to overrule their decision on land use issues is a troubling development.
Sussex County Councilman Steve McCarron told Spotlight Delaware on Thursday that he opposes the bill, arguing that it would undo a long history of local control over such permitting issues. He also said the bill was “driven by upstate influences.”
“Any time you start eroding local control, that’s a dangerous step,” he said.
Asked if the county council will lobby against the bill, McCarron said the question would have to be decided by the full council.
“It may very well be a topic at an upcoming meeting,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Senate Republican Caucus is calling on the public to oppose SB 159, calling it “one of the most egregious breaches of local control we’ve seen.”
Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-Milford) wrote in his own post that the bill wasn’t “written to address a broad issue or establish a policy framework—it was drafted to overturn one specific land use decision made by Sussex County Council.” He also noted that Snyder-Hall is the only Sussex County legislator backing the bill.
“That’s not local representation — that’s political overreach. Residents of Sussex County elect their council for a reason: to make decisions that reflect their values, priorities, and vision for the future,” he wrote.
Limited precedent
Such efforts by the General Assembly to overrule local land use decisions are exceedingly rare, but not unprecedented.
In 2015, state lawmakers stripped New Castle County of its authority to regulate certain permitting issues at Croda’s Atlas Point facility.
The lawmakers’ action followed a fight between then-County Executive Tom Gordon and then-Delaware Economic Development Director Alan Levin over a proposed ethylene oxide plant at Atlas Point.
At the time, Croda shipped in the ethylene oxide it used as an ingredient in its production of plastic polymers, antifreeze, and various consumer products.
In its proposal, Croda said a Delaware production plant would be environmentally beneficial because it would do away with the need to ship chemicals over long distances. But Gordon questioned the wisdom of placing the proposed plant “under the bridge and near two developments.”
Delaware officials saw Gordon’s caution as an unnecessary delay, and in response lawmakers inserted language into the footnotes of a 2015 capital funding bill that handed permitting authority for the parcels of land on which Atlas Point sat to state officials at the Delaware Office of State Planning.
Following the change, Delaware promptly permitted Croda’s $170 million construction plans.