Industry observers expect that offshore wind development could face serious set-backs under Trump, who could lend his support to lawsuits like the one Ocean City filed earlier this year against the development sited in view of its beaches.
The decades-old poultry processing plant in Dorchester County has had repeated pollution issues in recent years. Environmental regulators, though, did not say whether they plan to rewrite their permit for the facility or appeal the court’s decision.
The work on Chinquapin Run, a tributary of Northeast Baltimore’s Herring Run, is required under a long-standing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandate that the city address backups and overflows.
Trump attempted to slash funding for the Annapolis-based Chesapeake Bay Program in all four years of his presidency. Though Congress ultimately blocked those proposals, Maryland environmentalists are preparing to go on the defense again.
“It was kind of a gift that David Smith and the proponents of the bill gave this city,” said Zac Blanchard, who unseated a Smith-backed candidate in May.
City officials had made a late push against Question H, warning residents that approving the measure, which sought to cut the City Council to eight members from 14, would reduce representation and mean poorer constituent services.
Democrats appeared poised to sweep contests for the City Council, an expected outcome of Tuesday’s election that would cements a younger and potentially more progressive panel of legislators to represent Baltimore for the next four years.
The shift likely has major implications on who is nominated in future elections as more voters opt out of participating in closed primaries and partisans gain power.
Whether the David Smith-financed effort to shrink the City Council is approved or rejected has big implications for the future of politics in Baltimore.
The tourist town’s lawsuit, filed Friday, comes after months of threats and as seaside communities in other parts of the East Coast have waged an offensive against a nascent U.S. offshore wind industry.
A ballot measure to cut the size of Baltimore’s City Council nearly in half is financed almost exclusively by Sinclair exec David Smith. Though it is broadly opposed by city leaders, Baltimore voters almost always approve ballot measures.
The Sparrows Point logistics hub and community leaders were considering an agreement to trade $40 million for a dredging site on the little island that houses a state park, but plans fell through after forceful community pushback.