Posted on July 23, 2025
The Department of the Environment rejected federal regulators’ argument that there was an error in the state permit issued to US Wind.
Maryland environmental regulators who are accused by EPA of making an error in a state permit issued to an offshore wind project are standing their ground.
The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) said last week it doesn’t plan to reissue or change the final construction approvals granted in June for the US Wind’s Maryland Offshore Wind project, one of the few offshore turbine farms in late-stage permitting or construction along the East Coast.
The permit dispute comes as the Trump administration has been trying to stamp out the offshore wind industry and other renewable energy projects around the country.
EPA Region 3 Administrator Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey told Maryland regulators in a July 7 letterthey had incorrectly directed potential opponents of the project that they should appeal via a state process rather than a federal one.
In a July 17 response, MDE Secretary Serena McIlwain said doing what EPA says would go against “long-settled procedure” that dictates state-issued permits be appealed “under state law.”….
