‘Not a victory’: Anti-wind farm crowd gathers on Ocean City beach days after Ørsted’s delay 

A recent win in the anti-offshore wind farm movement didn’t stop some of those opposed to the project from gathering Sunday.

It may have cooled the momentum going into Hands Across the Beaches 2, some felt. But the couple of dozen demonstrators on the 35th Street beach said there was still more fight left to protect their coastline.

In a sign of solidarity, a small crowd stood at the water’s edge, joined hands and delivered the Pledge of Allegiance in front of the hundreds of beach-goers enjoying their Labor Day weekend. The demonstration was not disruptive and lasted only a couple minutes.

“In my humble opinion, I think the turnout was a lot less today because people think it’s over. But people who are really into it, they’re at full-court press,” said protester Thom Lee, of Ocean City.

Kathleen Harper and Adrienne Possenti, members of Protect Our Coast NJ, helped organize the demonstration. Members of the group hung around for about 15 minutes, answered questions and handed out brochures to anyone who was interested following the demonstration.

On Wednesday, global wind energy developer Ørsted announced its first offshore wind farm in New Jersey would be delayed until 2026 due to supply chain issues, higher interest rates and a failure so far to garner enough tax credits from the federal government.

“Until they say, ‘We’re done, we’re cutting the chord, we’re not gonna do this or other projects along the Jersey Shore,’ we’re gonna keep the pressure on,” said Robin Shaffer, 53, of Ocean City, a board member with Protect Our Coast NJ.

“This was not a victory. This is a moment where it shows what the power of thousands of people looking out for the ocean, looking out for the coast and looking out for the small businesses that could be hurt because of this project. It shows you what they can do. But it didn’t end the project.”

Ørsted, a Danish company, revealed the delay on an earnings conference call, during which it said it could be forced to write off about $2.3 billion on U.S. projects that are worth less than they had been. It also said it had considered simply abandoning the Ocean Wind I project off the southern New Jersey coast.

But Ørsted said it still believes the wind farm, to be built off Atlantic City and Ocean City, will be profitable in the long run.

That’s why Shaffer felt Sunday’s demonstration was still important.

“There has been no indication that any of the pre-construction work is slowing down or stopping during that period of time,” Shaffer said.

Ørsted was set to begin drilling the cable holes along 35th Street all the way to the 31st Street Bridge on Sept. 11. Even though those plans were canceled, Protect Our Coast NJ will still hold a news conference and march at noon next Sunday, Shaffer said.

“We’re hoping to get a big turnout,” Shaffer said. “We’re encouraging families to come out, the public to come out and really rally (against) a project Ørsted said they’re not walking away from. If they wanted to walk away from it, they had every opportunity to do it.

“Their stock plummeted this week, the public support for wind across the state of New Jersey has plummeted. It’s tanking. But they’re playing the long game.”

Lee, a realtor in South Jersey, and his wife, Martina, a retired nurse, have been documenting the demonstrations along with other moments around Ocean City on his YouTube channel. They were there Sunday to make another video.

The couple moved to Ocean City from West Chester, Pennsylvania, four years ago, got sand in their shoes and fell in love with the shore.

The Lees were hoping the efforts against offshore wind would perhaps delay things to 2024, so the announcement that it was pushed back to 2026 was a pleasant surprise.

Thom Lee, 63, said there can be a compromise between the two sides if Ørsted uses the time to properly research what it would take to put windmills in a place that doesn’t impact coastal sightlines, the safety of marine life, resources and money.

“They’re just practicing on us,” he said. “They don’t even know if these windmills work, they don’t know if they’re efficient enough. But if they had an efficient process where they can build windmills and it can pay for itself in a number of years and it can create green energy and it wasn’t blocking our view, everybody would be thrilled for it.

“But it’s the complete opposite. They stopped even talking about it because they don’t need the public support. They only need the federal government and its administration and Gov. (Phil) Murphy to go along with it.”

Steve Flogaus, 64, of Wilmington, Delaware, also has a home in Ocean City, having lived here for about 15 years.

Flogaus said a lot of the pressure is off the activists with Ørsted’s delay, allowing them more time to demonstrate and keep the topic relevant to the general public.

Demonstrating in front of Labor Day weekend visitors was one of their last chances to get the word out to a large group of people at once. After next weekend’s march, the efforts will change course, and groups like Protect Our Coast NJ will find different outlets to get their message out to a wider audience.

“We’re gonna continue (the fight) online and stuff like that and still try to push public opinion,” Flogaus said. “But I think the next phase in our resistance will be in the lawsuits. There will be a lot of lawsuits down the road.

“And, unfortunately in America, that’s what gets things done.”