Spending $175K for answers? Yes

As the Town of Ocean City continues its long search for ways to block the installation of dozens of wind turbines off the coast within sight of the beach, elected officials have engaged the services of a specialized international company to do it for them.

The cost is $175,000 and the question residents and taxpayers are undoubtedly asking themselves is whether spending that kind of money is worth it.

Well, it is so far.

With no way of knowing what the environmental consulting company SLR International will find, betting $175,000 that it will discover something to bolster Ocean City’s objection to US Wind’s location off the coast is a roll of the dice.

Although Councilman Tony DeLuca declared this week that there’s no amount of money he wouldn’t spend to prevent wind farms from sprouting offshore, that’s hyperbole because there’s always a point where continued spending ceases to make sense.

In Ocean City’s case that would be when taxpayers begin to feel it’s not worth it, since they will be shouldering most of the expense. So far that hasn’t happened, and this outlay isn’t enough to tilt the scales of public opinion against the council’s desire to fight offshore wind development for as long as it can.

Besides, if SLR does find the city a winnable argument it can make to state and federal regulatory bodies and the courts, as opposed to something possibly valid but not that compelling, this expenditure would be worth it.

Equally important, however, is that independent research by SLR should give officials and the public a more precise picture of what the financial and environmental impacts of offshore wind on Ocean City might be, rather than obligating many opponents and proponents to rely on instincts, unproven assertions and personal opinions.

To accomplish that, however, the city must make SLR’s final report public as soon as it is bound and delivered, no matter what the findings may be. To do otherwise would be a waste of $175,000 and the knowledge the payment purchased.

EDITOR ............................................ Stewart Dobson

MANAGING EDITOR ............................ Mallory Panuska

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR .......................... Lisa Capitelli

STAFF WRITERS ................Jack Chavez, Cindy Hoffman, ..........................................Hunter Hine, Remy Andersen

ACCOUNT MANAGERS .......... Mary Cooper, Vicki Shrier

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CLASSIFIEDS/LEGALS MANAGER .............. Laura Blair

SENIOR DESIGNER ................................ Susan Parks

GRAPHIC ARTISTS ............ Kelly Brown, Jane Leibowitz

PUBLISHER........................................ Christine Brown

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ...................... Gini Tufts