Paul Eidman’s Opinion in the Daily State News, titled “Big Oil is duping us about offshore wind,” is completely unsupported.
He accuses opponents of offshore Atlantic coast wind projects to be front organizations for oil companies. Obviously, Mr. Eidman is unaware that both BP and Shell have invested billions of dollars in these very same projects.
Mr. Eidman also accuses offshore wind opponents of spreading lies about the impact of hundreds of visible offshore wind turbines threatening local tourism.
Perhaps a quote from Ocean City, Maryland, Mayor Rick Meehan will show what local political leaders really feel about these projects: “Placing over 100 industrial-scale turbines within sight of our shoreline threatens our ocean viewshed, our property values and our economy.” I take serious offense that Mr. Eidman writes, “At the heart of this campaign are ‘sock puppets’ — fake online identities and front organizations flooding social media, community pages and local news comment sections with misinformation.” Nothing could be further from the truth. As a long-term homeowner in Bethany Beach, I have studied these projects for years and have helped coordinate opposition among local citizens and political leaders. The wind projects will have no impact on climate change, but they will significantly increase the cost of electricity, since the power they would produce would be substantially higher than what we now pay. They will not eliminate a single fossil fuel power plant because they must remain in operation for periods when there is no wind. These plants will run less frequently and at higher cost of operation, contributing to even higher electricity prices. University studies have shown that renters will not return to beaches with visible wind turbines at any distance.
At my own expense, I created a video that explains the detrimental impact offshore wind will have on the Maryland and Delaware coast. These projects will create few jobs and are a threat to the natural environment and local tourism. They will increase the cost of electricity, and they should not be built. There are better, less expensive, more reliable and less intrusive ways to produce clean energy, such as solar panels. Approval of these projects has not always followed the rules, and we are funding legal challenges that require them to do so.
Geoffrey Pohanka
Bethany Beach
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
