OCEAN CITY – Six months after they protested against Orsted’s start of testing for its preferred route for transmission cables along city streets, six individuals charged with disorderly persons offenses have had their cases dismissed by Municipal Court Judge Richard Russell.
The Sept. 12 incident leading to the charges involved a protest at 35th Street in Ocean City as work crews hired by Orsted began testing for a cable route from the proposed offshore wind farm to be known as Ocean Wind I to a grid connection point in Beesley’s Point in Upper Township.
Police said at the time that the six protesters failed to heed repeated warnings to leave the roadway. The work that day involved cutting holes into the roadway, checking on existing utility placements and taking groundwater samples.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities had overridden a decision against the route by the Ocean City Council. The road work was never completed due to Orsted’s surprise withdrawal in October from its offshore wind farm commitments.
The individuals who were charged in September were Lee Darby-Rinaldi, of Absecon, Robert and Bonna Weinstein, of Rydal, Pennsylvania, Karen Corsi, of Woodbury, Shani Kovacevic, of Ocean View, and Denise Phillip, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
