Sen. Stephanie Hansen, D-Middletown

legis.delaware.gov

Senate Minority Leader Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View.

legis.delaware.gov.

• 
• 

By Joseph Edelen

DOVER — A controversial proposal that could overturn Sussex County Council’s December 2024 decision to reject a permit for planned offshore wind projects off Delaware’s coast will be considered by the Senate Environment, Energy and Transportation Committee on June 2.

The measure — Senate Bill 159, sponsored by committee chair Sen. Stephanie Hansen, D-Middletown — is the only piece of legislation on the agenda for the June 2 meeting, which is set to begin at 1 p.m. in the Senate chamber.

The legislation will likely receive fierce pushback from Sussex County residents and Republican lawmakers, who have emphasized the need for local control in Delaware’s southernmost communities throughout years of debate surrounding the coast’s viability for offshore wind farms.

Senate Minority Leader Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View, is of those who have opposed the measure, writing in a May 30 Daily State News commentary that Democratic lawmakers supporting the proposal are “aggressively advancing bills that sideline our counties and municipalities in favor of centralized state power.”

So far, Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall, D-Rehoboth Beach, is the lone Sussex County legislator in either chamber of the General Assembly to sign on as a cosponsor.

For information on how to provide public comments on the legislation, visit legis.delaware.gov.