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While I hesitate to say that the Ocean Wind Farm War is over, we had a massive victory today.
When this initiative was presented to Ocean City's Council a few years back, it was pitched with a great deal of pressure. Those of us who asked questions were made out to be against the environment. We were given vague answers, if they answered our questions at all. We were asked to give them permits and approve plans long before the federal environment impact reports were complete, and before many safety tests were even started.
Everything that we were being shoveled was bright and shiny, with no downside. Yet, the more research that we did, the more we found probably negative consequences that would result from their “Green” initiative.
Luckily, we have a County that cares. We cherish the resources that God has blessed us with. Our ocean and beaches have fed this county’s bellies and economy for as long as it existed. Many of our citizens, second homeowners, vacationers, business owners, and government representatives took the time to educate themselves on this topic and got involved.
Grassroot groups, Politicians, Lawyers, Moms & Pops, and Children worked together to make our voice heard.
As I said earlier, the war is not over. Now we need to work with our legislators to put in place legal barriers to stop anything like this from happening again. Our “Home Rule” is sacred and needs to be protected from ambitious politicians and greedy corporations.
My ask is that everyone please continue to educate yourself on this topic and support the individuals and elected officials who helped us win this victory.
First on that list needs to be
Congressman Jeff Van Drew. He has been a passionate advocate and helped us every step of the way. Former New Jersey Superior Court Judge
Michael J. Donohue, of the law firm of Blaney, Donohue & Weinberg in Avalon, who serves as Special Counsel on Offshore Wind to Cape May County;
Senator Michael Testa; Assemblymen Antwan McClellan and
Erik Simonsen;
the Cape May County Board of Chosen Commissioners (Commissioner Director, Leonard C. Desiderio; Andrew Bulakowski; Will Morey; Jeffrey Pierson; Bob Barr; Former Commissioner Director, Gerald Thornton; Former Commissioner, E. Marie Hayes);
OCNJ City Council (Pete Madden; Karen Bergman; Terry Crowley Jr.; Tomaso Rotondi; Jody Levchuk; Dave Winslow; and Tony Polcini);
Mayor Jay Gillian; Solicitor Dottie McCrosson;
City Business Administrator George Savastano;
Eustace Mita;
Ken Wisnefski;
Suzanne Hornick;
Harry Vanderslice;
Robin Shaffer;
Joe Balkover;
Flynn & Reagan DeVlieger; Members of
Protect Our Coast NJ; and the over 500,000 people that signed the online petition.
This is a list of just some of the people that I witnessed passionately working on behalf of this cause. There are many additional individuals that helped, while I may not have listed you, please know that I appreciate your efforts!
Thank you for all that you have done to protect our community!
Mike DeVlieger, Former Ocean City Councilman
*The views listed in this editorial and my own and do not represent any corporate entity.
