The Caesar Rodney Institute confirmed it is spearheading an effort to halt offshore wind on the Delaware and Maryland coasts.
David Stevenson, who heads energy policy studies at the Newark-based public policy group cited “overall concern about the incredibly high cost of offshore wind, and other negatives such as concerns about property values.”
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“The Delaware connection is twofold,” Stevenson stated. “One of the two wind projects is off the coast of Delaware even though the cost premium will be paid by Maryland electric customers, and power cables will come ashore in Delaware. This happened with no supporting legislation in Delaware. Secondly, the Carney Administration is hell-bent to tag onto the Maryland, New Jersey, and other blue state plans for offshore wind, as seen in his creation of the Offshore Wind Working Group.”
Stevenson said innovations in Europe have driven down the cost of offshore wind in Europe, thanks to technologies like floating platforms.
“Those innovations may take a decade to reach the US. In the meantime utility-scale onshore wind and solar are available now and are competitive with new natural gas-fired power plants without state-sponsored subsidies that raise electric rates, harm the poor, and have encouraged companies to leave Delaware.,” Stevenson stated.
Stevenson and the institute have long opposed state energy policies and was appointed by the incoming Trump Administration as a member of the transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency
The institute’s work includes taking on major chemical companies involved in producing refrigerants for air-conditioning systems.
“I have led the effort nationally against ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, a mini-Paris Accord that would raise the cost of new air conditioning and refrigeration projects and repairs here. Last Wednesday I was part of a small team that delivered a coalition letter (based on my research) to White House Staff to oppose ratification. It is a David &Goliath fight given the deep pockets of Honeywell and Chemours,” Stenson stated.
