May 16, 2022 — New Jersey offshore wind developer Orsted recently inked a deal to use all union labor for its projects along the East Coast.
Biden Administration officials helped broker the agreement between Orsted and North America’s Building Trades Unions, as part of its goal to generate 30 gigawatts of wind energy by 2030, while simultaneously developing green energy jobs.
Opposition by fishing industry
The group Ocean City Flooding opposes Orsted’s project off the coast of South Jersey and says the labor deal doesn’t take into account potential job losses in the fisheries industry.
“We support jobs for Americans, however, it should be noted that here in Cape May County Orsted has not committed to one job and in fact there will be a loss of jobs in the commercial fishing industry at the Cape May/Wildwood port,” said Suzanne Hornick, one of the group’s founders.
She says while the deal focuses on labor, other issues remain such as threats to marine life, migrating birds, the endangered Atlantic right whale, along with potential rate hikes and declining property values.