The noisy military cargo ships berthed at the North Locust Point Marine Terminal were to be connected to shore power by the beginning of July, Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said this weekend in a statement to The Banner.

“We were informed that the ships would be able to connect to ground power by the beginning of July,” Ferguson wrote Saturday. “We expect that to be done by now. This isn’t a complicated problem, it just needs to get done.”

If implemented, shore power would hopefully end the noise and air pollution from the ships’ generators that have exasperated nearby residents since the vessels arrived in early June.

As of Monday afternoon, the ships’ generators were still running.

The Senate president also said his office has remained in close communication with residents, the Maryland Port Administration, federal agencies and congressional offices since the complaints started in mid-June.

According to Ross Seidman, senior counsel in Ferguson’s office, the Maryland Port Administration relayed the estimated time frame for connecting the ships to shore power to Ferguson on June 23, based on information from the U.S. Maritime Administration. The federal agency, known as MARAD, leases the pier where the USNS Pomeroy and USNS Charlton are berthed.

When asked about the delay, the Maryland Port Administration referred questions to MARAD.

MARAD did not respond to a request for comment.

The hulking grey-hulled cargo ships, which are the size of aircraft carriers, are being transferred to MARAD by the Military Sealift Command to be placed into a reduced readiness status. The two agencies have pointed at each other when asked about who was responsible for the noise.

Nolan McCoy, a resident whose townhouse balcony faces the military ships, has sent an email about the vessels to everybody he could think of almost every day since shortly following their arrival. As vice president of the neighborhood association, McCoy has reached out to local authorities about the ships on behalf of surrounding residents.

McCoy has lived in North Locust Point for six years and said he’s “never heard a peep” out of the pair of MARAD ships that were berthed at the same pier until last year. Now he’s unable to open his window without smelling diesel and the noise, he said, is constant.

In late June, City Councilman Zac Blanchard forwarded McCoy an email from the Maryland Port Administration that estimated the ships would likely connect with shore power by the end of June.

“Here we are on July 7, they’re still running,” McCoy said.

The 63-year-old said he appreciates Blanchard’s and Ferguson‘s advocacy, and he’s optimistic that the ships will turn off — eventually. What has been the most upsetting, McCoy said, is that no one in charge of the ships, like MARAD, the Military Sealift Command, or the Maryland Port Administration, have responded to him directly.

“Act with some purpose,” McCoy said about the updated July timeline. “Do what you say you’re going to do.”