WORCESTER COUNTY, Md. -- The Maryland Coastal Bays Program hopes to secure a multi-million dollar grant from the state of Maryland. However, when it asked Worcester County Commissioners for a letter of support, the conversation sharply turned towards offshore wind.
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UPDATE: Worcester County Commissioners have had a change of heart. At their meeting on Tuesday, January 21st, county officials decided to send a letter of support for the Maryland Coastal Bays Program.
The motion passed after a 6-1 vote.
Commission President Ted Elder, who was extremely critical of MCBP in November, said it was time to set aside his differences.
"I'm not voting on principle all the time; I have to put that aside sometimes and see what is best for the county and the citizens of the county," said Elder. "With the state money getting tighter all the time this might be one of the few times we have a chance to get that type of grant money."
The grant, called the Whole Watershed Act Grant, would give MCBP $17 million to improve Newport Bay.
"One of the significant things would be stormwater management and flood issues in the town of Berlin," said MCBP Executive Director Kevin Smith.
This grant would also boost wetlands and habitat restoration efforts, and the county commissioners might have come around just in time.
"The grant right now is being reviewed by the Department of Natural Resources and others," said Smith. "We have a meeting with the grant reviewers coming up and having that letter while they're under review is going to be important."
As for what changed within the past month, Smith attributes it to multiple factors.
"I think that the commissioners were able to separate these issues, that's number one," said Smith. "Number two is we did change our bylaws, what we did is basically put language in our bylaws for our organization that says that any gift or donations over $10,000 would need to be approved by the board of the organization."
Smith said time also allowed cooler heads to prevail, and he hopes the county's waterways will benefit.
The program should find out if its been awarded the grant in March.
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CBP is seeking the roughly $20 million grant from Maryland's Department of Natural Resources for projects in Newport Bay, which consistently scores the lowest in the Maryland Coastal Bays report card.
The request sparked questions about past donations the CBP received from US Wind.
CBP Executive Director Kevin Smith told commissioners that the organization received a total of $125,000 from US Wind over the past three years. According to Smith, the money came with no strings attached.
"Our intention with that money was to put it towards bird habitat conservation in the coastal bays and that's what we did with it," said Smith.
Commissioner Ted Elder views the donations differently.
"It sounds to me like that was a payoff to keep you neutral," said Elder.
As Elder just referenced, the CBP has not taken a stance for or against US Wind's proposed project off the coast of Delmarva. Now, the organization does not have any authority over that project. However, it still struck a chord with Worcester County leaders.
"Sold their soul to the devil is the statement I made and I stand by that," said Elder when we spoke with him on Friday.
Commissioners Eric Fiori and Diana Purnell both made motions to approve the letter of support; however, it was not passed.
"Balls in their[CBP] court," said Elder. "If they come and support us in our opposition to these windmills I think we can go back to our great working relationship again."
Smith told us on Friday that the CBP board is discussing its stance on US Wind's project. He also said the program plans to go before commissioners again before the grant application deadline on December 3rd.
