OC Today-Dispaatch JANUARY 31, 2025
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Sign up now for our new, Monday-Friday newsletter. — Page 15
PRICELESS
Berlin’s Adkins burns Hardware, building supply business dating to 1908 destroyed in earlymorning blaze. — PAGE 22
Bird flu found in snow geese Dead birds test positive as virus works its way down the shore with migrating waterfowl. — PAGE 4
Trucks going big at Assateague? PHOTO COURTESY BERLIN FIRE COMPANY
HARDWARE STORE INFERNO The Worcester County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of fire that broke out overnight Wednesday, destroying The Adkins Company hardware store on Harrison Avenue in Berlin. Nobody was hurt.
It could be, as Park Service has proposed doing away with 1976 rule and opening the beach to bigger pickup trucks.— PAGE 12
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US Wind secures additional ORECs for offshore projects By Bethany Hooper Associate Editor (Jan. 31, 2025) The Maryland Public Service Commission has approved US Wind’s application for additional offshore renewable energy credits, which will support the company’s buildout of wind projects off Maryland's coast. Last year, Gov. Wes Moore signed into law House Bill 1296, which, among other things, allows qualified offshore wind developers to apply for outstanding offshore renewable energy credits, or ORECs. And last week, the Maryland Public Service Commission awarded additional credits to the state’s only applicant, US Wind. The agency reports it evaluated a number of criteria to determine whether the company’s proposal was in the public interest, as well as an analysis of the bill’s impacts on Maryland’s utility ratepayers. “Our decision will support the expansion of renewable energy generation in Maryland, and advance the development of a project which will produce significant economic, environmental, and health benefits to our state, including assuring our future energy needs,” Frederick H. Hoover, chair of the Public Service Commis-
sion, said in a statement. “While questions have arisen regarding offshore wind development in a number of places, the Commission’s analysis through the independent consultant and our hearings demonstrated the importance of this project in providing emission-free energy, jobs, economic opportunity and cost benefits to Maryland ratepayers.” Last year, Danish company Ørsted announced it would relinquish the ORECs it had been awarded for its Skipjack Wind project, which was set to bring a 966-megawatt project off the Delmarva coastline. To that end, Gov. Wes Moore last May signed legislation – cross-filed as House Bill 1296 and Senate Bill 1161 – to require the Maryland Public Service Commission to open an offshore wind proceeding limited to evaluating revised project schedules, sizes, or pricing for a previously approved Round 2 offshore wind project and to review similar requests for Round 1 offshore wind projects. In short, the legislation allows qualified offshore wind farm developers to apply for outstanding ORECs and streamlines the approval process for revised offshore wind projects. See OPERATION Page 6
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JANUARY 31, 2025
Bird flu uptick puts chicken farmers even more on edge By Brian Shane Staff Writer (Jan. 31, 2025) Migrating snow geese in Worcester County tested positive for bird flu this month, state authorities said, as an outbreak of the disease continues to affect the region, including at several commercial chicken farms. “In early January, laboratory testing provided preliminary confirmation of Highly Pathogenic H5 Avian Influenza (HPAI) in seven dead snow geese found in Worcester and Dorchester counties,” said Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) spokesman Gregg Bortz in a statement. Another die-off of birds occurred this week near the South Gate Pond of the Ocean Pines community, according
to Ocean Pines Association spokesman Josh Davis. He said personnel with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday and Wednesday collected the carcasses of several deceased wildfowl, including eight domestic geese, four Canada geese, two vultures, two common mergansers, a sea gull, a grackle, and a cormorant. All are scheduled to be tested for avian influenza. Regional spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus started in late December with a die-off of snow geese in Delaware, according to Dr. Jennifer Trout, Maryland’s state veterinarian with the Department of Agriculture. The confirmed bird flu cases were located in Bishopville, while the ones in Dorchester County were located in the
BRIAN SHANE/OC TODAY-DISPATCH
A flock of Canada geese take a break on the South Gate Pond in Ocean Pines on Wednesday. Wild birds like these are known to be carriers of avian influenza.
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Trout said. She said usual waterfowl migration south from Canada was delayed this year by about six weeks because the weather was warmer than usual. Once migratory waterfowl start moving through Maryland, that’s when an
uptick in bird flu cases can be expected. Carried by free-flying waterfowl such as ducks, geese, and shorebirds, bird flu is caused by an influenza type A virus. It can infect chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quails, domestic ducks, geese, and guinea fowl, according to the state agriculture department. “We’re now at our uptick,” Trout said. “It’s that time of year with that migratory waterfowl movement, and them bringing the disease in with them. It’s almost like it’s a matter of time unfortunately.” Trout added that the low-pathogenic bird flu virus occurs naturally in wildfowl, but it can mutate into a deadly and highly pathogenic form, with an incubation period of 10-14 days. Infected birds sometimes may appear wobbling or stumbling. While this strain of the virus is typically seen in wild birds, it can and has spread to commercial chicken houses in recent weeks. Approximately 627,500 broiler See INFECTIONS Page 10
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ORECs used as financial, compliance tool By Stewart Dobson Editor (Jan. 31, 2025) Offshore wind developer US Wind has more offshore renewable energy credits (ORECs) to sell now that the Maryland Public Service Commission has approved the company’s application for credits made available by another company’s abandonment of a similar project. When the Danish company Ørsted canceled its plans last year to build its Skipjack windfarm off the MarylandDelaware coast, that freed the ORECs it had been awarded by the state. Last week the Maryland Public Service Commission turned them over to the state’s only remaining candidate, US Wind. So, what are ORECs? They are, in a way, financial instruments and certificates of compliance. Utility companies buy them from offshore wind energy producers, which use that money to finance their operations. The utility companies then use the ORECS as certificates of compliance with a state’s clean energy mandates. In Maryland, according to the Department of Legislative Services, “a specified portion of retail electricity sold by electricity suppliers (must) come from “renewable” sources. Wind is one of those sources, while solar power, geothermal and a host of
lesser-known clean energy technologies are included in what is known as the state’s Renewal Energy Portfolio. This portfolio’s purpose is to encourage the growth of renewable energy according to a specified timetable and reduce carbon emissions. Electricity suppliers don’t have a choice: they either buy these renewable energy credits or make an “Alternative Compliance Payment” to a fund managed by the Maryland Energy Administration. In addition to
O(ffshore) RECs, solar farms offer S(olar)RECs. Here’s how ORECs work, according to localcontent.com, a company that helps businesses comply with government rules: • Generating Renewable Energy: Offshore wind farms produce electricity that goes into the power grid. Each megawatt-hour of energy produced earns the company one OREC. • Selling ORECs: Offshore wind developers sell the ORECs to utilities
or other companies. The income from these sales helps fund the construction and operation of the wind farms. • Proving Clean Energy Use: Utilities use ORECs to show they are meeting their state’s renewable energy requirements. Consequently, US Wind’s acquisition of the rights to these additional ORECs will give it more money to bring its Maryland projects to fruition, if other factors — review by the federal government and litigation — don’t derail it.
Operation expected to begin in 2029 Continued from Page 3 “Revisions outlined in House Bill 1296 seeks to streamline the approval process for revised project schedules and pricing, ensure the project is located in the authorized wind energy area, and those possessing offshore wind renewable energy credits can move forward expeditiously,” House Economic Matters Committee Chair CT Wilson, bill sponsor, said in a hearing last spring. “Moreover, the bill does not restart the process for the projects. Merely, it allows limited alterations to already approved plans, including the adjustment to turbine placement, generating capacity, in-
stallation dates and pricing within the existing statutory limits.” In the first two offshore wind rounds, held in 2017 and 2021, US Wind was awarded ORECs to support projects of more than 1,056 megawatts. In what is known as a Revised Round 2, US Wind will construct a 1,710-megawatt project developed in four phases that will consist of 114, 15-megawatt turbines. The first phase has an expected commercial operation date of 2029 while the second, third and fourth phases have an anticipated operation date of December 2030, with the first year of the respec-
tive OREC schedules beginning in January 2031, the commission reports. This new combined project absorbs the capacity left over when Skipjack relinquished its ORECs last year. “The Commission finds that the project meets the ratepayer impact tests required for Round 1 and Round 2 by not exceeding the statutory thresholds of $1.50 per month and $0.88 per month for an average residential customer for Rounds 1 and 2 respectively; and 1.5 percent per year and 0.9 percent per year for an average non-residential customer for Rounds 1 and 2 respectively,” a news release reads.
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