Peggy Schultz of Newark is a facilitator for People for Offshore Wind Energy Resources.
The flag of home rule seems to be raised every time Sussex County feels like imposing its will on all the citizens of the state. That’s not what home rule is meant to be. The online Oxford English Dictionary says that it is “the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens.” The governing is to be done in that region, not in a region a hundred miles away or even 25 miles away. I live in New Castle County, yet Sussex County officials seem to feel that they have the authority to affect my utility bills.
The electrical grid that serves Delaware is not as efficient as it should be, so in times of particular cold or heat, we’re going to have to pay a premium for the electricity that struggles to reach all the corners of the state — because of constrictions at certain points.
There’s at least a partial answer to this conundrum. US Wind has offered Delaware several benefits that will accompany its Maryland offshore wind, clean energy project. First of all, if the project is constructed, US Wind will spend $400 million to strengthen the grid and remove points of constriction. This one benefit will save Delawareans approximately $253 million in energy costs over the initiative’s lifetime, a savings that will be directly reflected in lower utility bills. Other benefits of this US Wind project to Delaware include $25 million in rent for cable landfall, $50 million in investments around Indian River Bay and $76 million in free renewable energy credits.
All these benefits to Delaware and its ratepayers are in jeopardy because Sussex County is exercising what it misidentifies as “home rule.” The proper and just exercise of home rule applies only to residents of its jurisdiction, to Sussex County people. But, because Sussex County Council decided to withhold permission from US Wind to build a substation, all the benefits that would otherwise have flowed to the residents of the entire state, including lower electricity costs, can’t happen. Sussex County Council is not exercising home rule. It’s exercising regionalism. And it’s not fair.
By supporting Senate Bill 159 (and by asking your state senator and representative to back it), you will support legislation that removes the overreach of Sussex County Council in this particular instance, without touching its ability to properly exercise home rule.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
