Offshore Wind and Energy Justice in the Mid-Atlantic: coastal communities, energy transitions, and fish processors

This Delaware/NOAA Sea Grant funded project uses mixed-methodologies to understand offshore wind development in the Mid-Atlantic region through the lens of energy justice. In part one of the study, an attitudinal survey will be send to four focus communities: (1) coastal towns in Delaware from Lewes to Fenwick Island, (2) Milford, Delaware, (3) Millsboro and Dagsboro, Delaware, and (4) Cape May, New Jersey and Ocean City, Maryland. Communities (1) and (4) represent coastal towns with robust tourism economies. Community group (4) also contains important commercial fishing ports. Milford (Community 2) is the site of Sea Watch International, a fish processing plant. Fish processors are plausibly impacted by offshore wind development given potential impacts to the fishing industry, and yet this community has not been dominantly discussed within the offshore wind energy justice literature. Millsboro and Dagsboro (community group 3) are adjacent to a soon to be closed coal-fired power plant and the site of a future offshore wind cable landing, thus representing frontline communities in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable offshore wind energy. In part two of the study, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with fish processing workers and residents and workers near the Indian River Power Plant in order to further explore the just energy transition concerns unique to those communities. The project is co-led by UD’s Jeremy Firestone and Nina David.