COURT HOUSE – Even with Danish firm Orsted’s withdrawal from its Ocean Wind commitments, Cape May County is pursuing its litigation challenging the permit process for offshore wind development, court records show.
When the county initiated the litigation in October, Commissioner Director Leonard Desiderio said, “We believe the federal permitting process was fatally flawed and we have assembled a great legal team to pursue these issues in the federal courts.”
In a release that month county officials said, “The Cape May County Board of Commissioners … voted unanimously not to allow Cape May County and its environment, Tourism industry and Fisheries industry be the subject of a massive, reckless experiment that will permanently change our way of life, without an unprecedented and aggressive challenge in the Federal Courts.”
At a Nov. 1 news conference, county officials celebrated Orsted’s decision to back away from its wind farm development projects off the coast of Atlantic and Cape May counties. Attorney Michael Donohue, the county’s special counsel for offshore wind, warned then that the fight was not over.
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
