May 29, 2024 — Police officers filled Central Regional High School on Tuesday night, where tensions ran high as critics and proponents of electricity generated by offshore wind faced off with impassioned speeches during a hearing held by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
The state agency held the event to collect public feedback on permit applications for proposed landfall sites for cables that, if approved, will transmit electricity from the Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South project to the mainland power grid.
Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind — which is looking to erect about 200 wind turbines between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light — needs a series of permits from the state environmental protection agency before the company can build transmission lines and electrical substations at landfall sites along the Jersey Shore. The company has proposed its electric cables come onshore at Atlantic City, Sea Girt and Egg Harbor Township in Atlantic County.