EDGEMERE, Md. (WBFF) — Maryland’s governor attends an annual luxury leadership retreat frequently visited by presidential hopefuls, as questions emerge about a Baltimore industrial site that remains mostly inactive despite the chief executive’s pledge to make the state a national leader in offshore wind energy.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., said early Tuesday morning during a Zoom interview with Spotlight on Maryland that he is alarmed by what he described as costly delays in offshore wind generation for the state. The state’s only Republican in Congress also reiterated calls for President Donald Trump’s administration to reopen the federal bidding process for such energy projects.

The bottom line is that these permits were rushed through the Biden administration without due diligence with regard to its effect on commercial fishing, the whales, national defense, the viewscape,” Harris said. “There were numerous things that got bypassed in the permitting process.”

Pointing to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s announcement in April 2023 to transition the state to 100% green energy by 2035, Harris said that without new power sources capable of generating enough electricity for Marylanders, the state could face a serious situation.

“They should reopen the permitting process, and I am convinced that if they do reopen that permitting process, those permits will never be granted,” Harris added.

US Wind, Inc., the only offshore wind developer with an active energy project off the Town of Ocean City, Md.’s coastline, announced in a December 2021 press release on its website that its first phase of the wind project would come online this year.

“Anticipated to start generating clean energy in 2025, MarWin is expected to support more than 1,300 Maryland jobs and power about 80,000 homes,” the US Wind press release said. “US Wind controls an approximately 80,000-acre federal lease area off the coast of Maryland.”

A key part of the Maryland Public Service Commission’s (PSC) approval of US Wind’s application for its offshore energy projects involves the Italy-based company building essential parts of the nearly 1,000-foot-tall wind turbines in Maryland. The developer launched a partner company, Sparrows Point Steel, promising to create more than 550 high-paying union jobs for steelworkers at the Patapsco River shipping site.

Three months after Moore took office, he praised the project and reaffirmed his commitment to green energy by signing three related bills near the US Wind turbine construction site, aimed at advancing offshore wind generation projects. One of the bills was the Maryland Promoting Offshore Wind Energy Resource, or the Maryland POWER Act.

The future isn’t just cleaner and greener, it is more prosperous. It is a future with work that is empowering. It is a future with wages that are sustainable,” Moore said in April 2023. “The POWER Act will nearly quadruple our offshore wind goals so we can build off the great work of our partners at Tradepoint Atlantic, our partners at Ørsted, and our partners at US Wind to make Maryland the offshore capital of the United States.”

Ørsted, a Danish wind developer, canceled its two approved Maryland offshore wind projects in January 2024, citing “challenging economic circumstances.”

US Wind has continued to secure rebid awards from the PSC, including taking on renewable energy credits previously held by Ørsted in January 2025. The company’s CEO said its first phase of wind turbines would be operational by 2025, including at the Sparrows Point Steel site.

Will Maryland become a ‘green energy’ economic hub?

After being denied access to the riverfront site by Tradepoint Atlantic’s security checkpoint on Sunday, Spotlight on Maryland reviewed Google Earth satellite images showing minimal activity at US Wind’s turbine construction site. Spotlight on Maryland also flew a drone over public waters near the site, showing limited modifications consistent with the Google Earth images.

Spotlight on Maryland pressed Moore, US Wind, and a representative from the United Steelworkers Union about why the site had missed its targeted activation date.

Moore, after an unrelated news conference on Monday about housing, did not clearly answer Spotlight on Maryland’s questions regarding why a key job site he said that he “envisioned a 21st century economy driven by Maryland wind power” did not appear active.

Well, you know, we continue to work with all of our partners to ensure that, as we say, that our state, that we go from no-and-slow to fast-and-now,” Moore said. “We believe in making sure that we are coming up with a strong energy future for the people of the state, and we will work with all of our partners to make sure we can deliver that as quickly as possible.”

Spotlight on Maryland again asked when the site is expected to come online after not receiving a direct answer.

“Again, we are working with all of our partners to make sure we are delivering all of these projects as quickly as possible,” Moore said. “I think that people are seeing, just like this announcement today around housing, that this is an administration that moves fast, that this is an administration that moves together with all of our partners, and we plan to do the things that we honor.”

Carter Elliott, Moore’s spokesperson, confirmed with Spotlight on Maryland on Tuesday that the governor would be away from the state for a period.

This week, Gov. Moore will travel to Idaho for both personal and political travel,” Elliott said by email. “He will participate in events at the Sun Valley Conference as well as vacation with his family.”

While Elliott did not respond to Spotlight on Maryland’s repeated questions about when Maryland’s governor will be out of the state, the spokesperson did write that “the state will not cover the governor’s lodging and travel expenses.”

The Sun Valley Conference, popularly known as the annual “billionaire summer camp,” brings together business executives, social media titans, traditional news figures, and elected officials who aspire to become president, according to Fortune. The conference is sponsored by the private investment firm Allen & Company.

Offshore wind proponents, developer believes a Maryland economic boom will still happen, while Rep. Andy Harris thinks the project’s future is cloudy

Meanwhile, Jim Strong, United Steelworkers Union’s offshore wind sector assistant, was asked by Spotlight on Maryland on Tuesday afternoon by phone if any steelworker jobs have started at the US Wind construction site at Tradepoint Atlantic.

“Not yet,” Strong said.

The union representative stressed during the phone call that he believes the future of the US Wind site will fulfill its promise of creating the 550 steelworker positions committed once it reaches full operating capacity. Strong added that he is aware engineers have visited the proposed location for “mapping” and planning purposes.

Nancy Sopko, vice president of external affairs at US Wind, acknowledged by email on Tuesday that the company’s Tradepoint Atlantic fabrication construction site is a work in progress.

We are on track to create hundreds of jobs in a new steel fabrication facility in Baltimore County,” Sopko said. “We expect construction activity for the new facility to begin next year.”

Despite receiving a $47 million federal grant to develop Tradepoint Atlantic, the US Wind representative said no federal grant funds have been used for the site’s development due to ongoing negotiations.

“Earlier this year, the state approved our plans to greatly increase the size of our offshore wind project, making it the largest new power project in the region, by far,” Sopko said. “We are on track to start construction at Sparrows Point next year to support his new, larger project.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration did not respond to Spotlight on Maryland’s questions about the status of the federal grant. Baltimore County’s spokesperson acknowledged similar questions about the grant’s status but did not provide an answer regarding its status or expenditure.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., who represents the Ocean City coastal community where US Wind plans to erect its wind farm off the beach, told Spotlight on Maryland early Tuesday morning he was not pleased with the discovery.

I’m not surprised,” Harris said. “It’s not an American company, it’s an Italian company that cleverly put ‘US’ in their American subsidiary’s name.”

“I don’t think they care about the United States. All they care about is those tax credits, they care about the subsidies that will flow to offshore wind and making profits from those subsidies,” Harris added.

Maryland’s sole Republican in Congress said he questions why Moore has pressed forward on offshore wind while the national interest in the energy generation source has stalled in recent years.

“People’s energy bills are sky high, and offshore wind is one of the most expensive ways to generate electricity,” Harris said. “This is just a fool’s errand. It was started for totally political purposes. It’s a foolish waste of money.”

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Spotlight on Maryland is a collaboration between FOX45 News, WJLA in Washington, D.C., and The Baltimore Sun.