OC Today-Dispatch JULY 11, 2025
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PRICELESS
Rescued A screen shot of a TikTok video shows people gathered on Baltimore Avenue as people jump and dance on top of a car Friday night.
Rough night
Pontoon boat capsizes in inlet, NRP, fire department, lifeguards come to the rescue — PAGE 22 PHOTO COURTESY OF IAFF LOCAL 4269
Chaos, panic as crowd mistakes fireworks for gun shots PAGE 10 Mayor, council address incidents, sheriff calls it deplorable PAGE 12
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OC Today-Dispatch
JULY 11, 2025
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JULY 11, 2025
OC Today-Dispatch
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Fight against offshore wind continues as case is upheld By Bethany Hooper Associate Editor (July 11, 2025) The Town of Ocean City’s lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of the US Wind project will continue after a U.S. district court judge last week denied a motion to dismiss the case in its entirety. On July 2, U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Gallagher rejected US Wind’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit led by the city and backed by 34 co-plaintiffs. However, the court did grant motions to dismiss three of the city’s eight claims against the federal government. “We prevailed on five major claims— under the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act,” Mayor Rick Meehan said in a statement last week. “This ruling affirms our standing and allows our case against the U.S. Department of the Interior, challenging the legality of the agency’s approval of the Maryland Offshore Wind project, to proceed.” Last fall, Ocean City government and several other co-plaintiffs filed a lawsuit challenging BOEM’s approval of the US Wind project, which will involve the construction of 114, 938-foot-tall wind turbines starting at about 11 miles off Ocean City’s coast and stretching out toward the horizon. The lawsuit alleges the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to conduct a transparent approval process and meet statutory and regulatory requirements. Since then, however, the federal government filed a motion to dismiss two of the city’s claims under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA). US
Wind also joined the lawsuit as an intervenor and subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in its entirety. Last month, Judge Gallagher heard arguments for and against the motions to dismiss. And last Wednesday, she granted the federal government’s motion to dismiss two of the city’s claims alleging violations of the MBTA and CZMA, and ruled in favor of a portion of US Wind’s motion by dismissing a third claim that alleged BOEM’s decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it was “arbitrary and capricious.” “For the reasons stated above, the Federal Defendants’ Partial Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Sixth (MBTA) and Seventh (CZMA) Causes of Action, ECF 37, is Granted,” the opinion reads. “US Wind’s Motion to Dismiss, ECF 39, is Granted in Part as to the First, Sixth, and Seventh Causes of action and Denied In Part as to the remaining causes of action.” The lawsuit will proceed in federal court on the five remaining causes of action. “As we have stated for over eight years, this project threatens to devastate our tourism industry, commercial and recreational fishing sectors, and poses risks to national defense,” Meehan said in his statement. “It could lead to the deaths of hundreds of marine mammals, including the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale—all so that an Italian company can receive subsidies from the State of Maryland to produce unreliable and expensive electricity. “The Town of Ocean City and our coplaintiffs stand united with our residents and property owners in the fight to protect our community, our economy, our ecosystem, our fishing industry, and everything that makes this place we call home special—today and for future generations.” US Wind did not respond to requests for comment, and BOEM has stated it will not comment on litigation.
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