The offshore wind farm could generate over 2 gigawatts of wind energy and power over 718,000 homes, according to the Department of the Interior.

President Joe Biden said in a statement that the wind energy industry had been “struggling to gain a foothold” in the years before he came into office.

“From manufacturing and shipbuilding to port operations and construction, this industry will support tens of thousands of good-paying and union jobs, provide reliable clean power to homes and businesses, strengthen our power grid against outages, and help reduce pollution – all while protecting biodiversity and marine ecosystems,” the president said.

Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul Pinsky called the Biden administration’s action “an important step forward in the effort to bring clean, renewable energy production to Maryland’s coast.”

“Today’s announcement underscores the careful, comprehensive and collaborative environmental analysis that has gone into these projects,” Pinsky said in a statement.

The Maryland project is the 10th commercial-scale offshore wind energy project approved by the Biden administration. Combined, the projects are projected to generate 15 gigawatts of clean energy, half of Biden’s goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind-produced energy by 2030.

The Maryland project includes up to 114 wind turbines, four offshore substation platforms and a meteorological tower. There will be three phases to the US Wind project, two of which — called MarWin and Momentum Wind — have already received offshore renewable energy certificates from the state.

Energy is set to start flowing in December 2028 from the first phase of the project. The final project is expected to be completed in late 2027 or early 2028, according to the plan submitted by US Wind.

The approval is a win for Maryland environmental groups and the state government, which have been working for offshore wind power in the state for around 10 years.

The Maryland legislature passed a series of bills, starting in 2013, to set offshore wind energy projects in motion.

The state set a goal in 2023, through the Promoting Offshore Wind Energy Resources Act, to generate 8.5 gigawatts of power from offshore wind by 2031.

This goal has hit some road bumps along the way, including the withdrawal of Denmark-based Ørsted’s planned offshore wind projects in January.

US Wind won the competitive lease sale of the 46,970 acres of federal ocean waters in 2014.

“By moving away from reliance on dirty fossil fuel energy and building renewable energy, Marylanders will be able to breathe cleaner air and benefit from new clean energy jobs,” Maryland Sierra Club Chapter Director Josh Tulkin said in a statement Thursday.

Jamie DeMarco, the federal campaigns coordinator for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said in an interview with Capital News Service that the Maryland wind farm is a milestone in moving offshore energy generation forward in Maryland.

“This is a huge undertaking to build an entire machine to deploy offshore wind, but once that machine is built, it’ll be able to hum and crank out new domestic energy, and clean energy that’s going to help us clean the air and meet our climate goals,” DeMarco said.

Offshore wind turbines have been coming online across the East Coast, DeMarco said, but this will be the first operational offshore wind facility in Maryland.

Environmental advocates aren’t the only celebrating parties. Union officials are touting the jobs set to be created by the wind farm.

New offshore wind area east of Ocean City to be leased to Norwegian company

Almost 2,680 jobs annually over seven years could be created during the development and construction phase of the wind farm, according to the Interior Department.

US Wind’s planned permanent offshore wind components production facility, called Sparrows Point Steel in Sparrows Point — the former home of Bethlehem Steel — is forecast to generate jobs for steelworkers.

The Baltimore Bethlehem Steel mill, which closed in 2012, was once the largest steel producer in the world. Sparrows Point Steel will bring steelworker jobs back to Maryland, DeMarco said, in a way that hasn’t been seen since the closure of Bethlehem.

Jim Strong, the offshore wind sector assistant for the United Steelworkers International Union, told CNS on Thursday that the facility is expected to bring in over 500 jobs. The project will help not only steelworkers, Strong said, but other union trades as well.

“It’s about addressing our climate crisis, about creating new green energy jobs — these will be high-paid union jobs,” Strong said.

Strong has served as a liaison between the union and US Wind. He said that the Sparrows Point facility has the opportunity to become a “central hub” for monopile production on the Atlantic Ocean. Monopiles, steel cylinders, are used for wind turbines, bridges and other projects, he said.

US Wind is a subsidiary of Italian company Renexia SpA.

The project has some detractors, such as Rep. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican who represents the Eastern Shore.

“Offshore wind industrialization comes at a heavy cost to our marine life and environment, and is an incredibly expensive way to generate electricity,” Harris said on X in July. “We should never allow foreign owned companies to control our energy supply—much less harm our environment while doing it.”

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s director, Elizabeth Klein, said in a statement that the Maryland project “reflects the best available science and invaluable insights from Tribes, government agencies, local communities, industry leaders, ocean users, and environmental groups gathered during our extensive environmental review process.”

“As we continue to support the undeniable momentum we see along our coasts, our focus remains on fostering responsible energy development, while protecting marine life and ecosystems,” she said.

Democrats in the state, including Gov. Wes Moore, have been supportive of the project. Moore signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government in June supporting offshore wind production.

Capital News Service is a student-powered news organization run by the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism. 

Maryland’s House Democrats are criticizing Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, for refusing to hear the Senate-approved foreign aid package that includes Ukraine and Israel.

“Give the victims of Putin’s war crimes a vote, Mr. Speaker,” Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said on the House floor Thursday. “Give Ukraine hope, Mr. Speaker. Tell Putin: ‘Nyet.’ Every minute we don’t signals retreat instead of resolve.”

The Senate passed the $95 billion national security supplemental spending bill on Tuesday. The measure would allot funding, including military support and humanitarian aid, for Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and Taiwan.

Johnson has firmly rejected calls to put the bill to a vote in the House due to the lack of border security legislation. But the speaker also has rejected a bipartisan compromise on border security crafted in the Senate.

In a Monday statement, Johnson said House Republicans were “crystal clear” that national security supplemental legislation “must recognize that national security begins at our own border.”

The foreign aid bill was attached to border security legislation until Senate Republicans voted against the bill Wednesday because they said the border policies didn’t go far enough. Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, then introduced the new bill without border legislation.

The national security package passed 70-29, with support from 22 Republican senators.

Hoyer said if Johnson were to put the bill on the House floor, it would have at least 300 votes to pass.

“The question is not whether this legislation would receive enough votes to pass this house,” Hoyer said. “The question is whether Speaker Johnson will give us the opportunity to vote on it at all. Refusal to do so is causing Ukrainians to die.”

The congressman further said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “salivates” at the inaction of the “isolationist or authoritarian loving factions” of House Republicans.

Rep. David Trone, who is running in the Maryland Democratic primary for the Senate, called Johnson’s reluctance to bring the foreign aid bill a “dereliction of duty and a shameless abandonment of America’s allies” in an X post Tuesday.

Trone added that “it’s time for House Republicans to step up and govern.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D–Maryland, accused House Republicans of taking orders from former President Donald Trump in a Wednesday interview with MSNBC. Raskin said the Senate was the best hope for bipartisan compromises, adding that the House Republicans fall in line with those on the MAGA right.

“I think our best hope for trying to torture out some bipartisan compromises that will allow America to stand on the side of freedom and democracy and human rights around the world is on the Senate side,” Raskin said.

In an email statement to Capital News Service, Rep. John Sarbanes, D–Maryland, said the aid bill is the “right framework” for moving forward on critical priorities and encouraged Johnson to consider the measure.

“The Senate took a crucial step in supporting our allies Israel and Ukraine and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Sarbanes said. “I urge Speaker Johnson to give it the consideration it deserves.”

Some House Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D–New York, seem to support using a discharge petition to circumvent the unwavering speaker.

Jeffries said Tuesday he would use “every available legislative tool” to move the aid bill forward.

A discharge petition would require a majority of House members to pass. With the Republicans holding a narrow 219-213 advantage, Democrats would have to find some Republicans willing to go against their party leadership.

The Senate-approved bill would allocate $60 billion to support Ukraine’s defense against Russia, including funding to allow Ukraine to re-arm itself and to receive U.S. military intelligence and training support.

The Senate slated $14 billion for security assistance to Israel. This would fund Israel’s missile defense capabilities and the Iron Beam missile defense system – a laser system that can detect and strike incoming missiles.

Another $9 billion would go towards humanitarian assistance to populations in war zones and potential regions of conflict, including Ukraine, Gaza and the West Bank, East Africa and South Asia.

Maryland’s two senators, who voted for the package, have expressed concerns about both the treacherous political road the bill went down and policies left in and out of the final measure.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D–Maryland, said earlier this week it was critical to pass humanitarian aid and to deploy resources to protect democracy around the world, including to Ukraine, which the senator said is running “dangerously low on ammunition and other vital supplies.”

“We know all too well that this is not only a fight to save Ukraine – our adversaries and allies alike are watching closely, and the outcome will have implications on American security and security across the globe,” Van Hollen said in a statement.

Van Hollen said that while he supports funding for defensive weapons and Israel’s right to defend itself, the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza is too great to ignore.

“While a war may be just, it must be fought justly. I cannot support a blank check for the Netanyahu government’s current campaign in Gaza,” Van Hollen said. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, said earlier this week that while the passage of the foreign aid bill was a “cause for celebration,” partisanship is blocking final passage.

The senator also said the lack of a border policy in the bill “represents a failure of governance and a disservice to our national security.”