Under the leadership of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, Maryland has adopted an ambitious renewable energy goal: 100% by 2040. But he’s getting pushback from some local governments.
The Democratic legislature earlier this year adopted an ambitious goal of 50% renewables by 2030. Maryland is among the bluest states in the country, but Hogan, recently reelected to a second term, upped the legislature by pushing the 100% goal.
In rural Washington County (where I live), a largely rural area in the western end of the state, local lawmakers – dominated by Republican Hogan supporters — view his approach as usurping county and city prerogatives. The Hagerstown Herald-Mail reported this month, “Washington County officials asked state lawmakers this week to help the county get zoning authority over large solar projects. They also sought clarification over a recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision regarding large solar projects and the Board of County Commissioners’ role in Maryland Public Service Commission hearings. Solar is a big issue now and will only get bigger with Gov. Larry Hogan aiming for 100% renewable energy, said Del. William Wivell, R-Washington, chairman of the county’s delegation to the Maryland General Assembly.”
An administrative law judge for the Maryland Public Service Commission recently approved an 11.8 MW solar farm on 60 acres near Hagerstown. The approval came over the county government’s opposition. The county says the decision overrode its zoning authority.
It now appears the county will have to sue the PSC in county court if it wants to appeal the project. The local newspaper reported, “The county is regrouping following a July decision by the state appeals court that the Public Service Commission, and not local government, has final authority when it comes to approving solar farms greater than 2 megawatts. The appeals court ruling also stated local government is a ‘significant participant in the process’ and the state commission should give ‘due consideration’ to local zoning laws in rendering its decision.”
A Republican delegate to the General Assembly from Washington and Allegheny counties noted that local control over large renewable energy projects might be a topic for the rural county coalition in the legislature. Allegheny County, the mountainous county just west of Washington, has concerns over large wind projects.
At the same time, Ocean City, a popular tourist beach resort at the other end of the state – on Maryland’s eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay — is raising concerns about a proposal for two large offshore wind farms. The Baltimore Sun reported, “Developers of two wind farms off Maryland’s Atlantic coast say they will build turbines more than 200 feet taller than those initially proposed, intensifying fears of spoiled views from Ocean City and prompting state regulators to reopen discussion about the projects two years after blessing them.”
The statewide newspaper said, “The Maryland Public Service Commission is seeking new input on the potential impact of the windmills, roughly 20 miles from shore but several hundred feet higher than Baltimore’s tallest buildings. Potential impacts could include harm to birds or commercial fishing, though the strongest opposition has focused on an expectation that wind farms visible from shore would send tourists fleeing to beaches with pristine views in other states.”
The libertarian-oriented Institute for Energy Research, a renewables skeptic, wrote, “The town council of Ocean City, Maryland is displeased regarding the location of the wind farms to be constructed offshore. The wind turbines are planned to be as close as 17 miles from shore, while the council wants the turbines sited 26 to 33 miles offshore, depending on the technology. There are still federal regulatory hurdles before final approval of the wind farms and construction can take place. But, the federal tax credit that make these expensive offshore projects feasible may be an issue since it expires at the end of this year.”
— Kennedy Maize