Maryland Offshore Wind Project is the Latest to Complete FAST-41 Permitting Assistance
Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permittting.gov)
WASHINGTON (January 17, 2024) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce that Maryland Offshore Wind is the latest infrastructure project to complete the FAST-41 permitting assistance program. The $6 billion project is the nation’s 10th commercial-scale offshore wind project to complete federal permitting.
“Advancing offshore wind has been a key component of the Biden-Harris administration’s clean energy efforts, and I couldn’t be more pleased to see another FAST-41 project make it to the finish line,” said Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “This is now the 7th offshore wind project to complete the FAST-41 program, and I look forward to seeing it realize its fullest potential in bringing clean, renewable energy to households across the mid-Atlantic.”
Anticipated to generate up to 2,200 megawatts of clean, renewable energy for the Delmarva Peninsula, the Maryland Offshore Wind project could power over 718,000 homes. Located approximately 10 nautical miles offshore Ocean City, Maryland, and approximately 9 nautical miles offshore Sussex County, Delaware, the project includes up to 114 wind turbine generators, four offshore substations, a meteorological tower, and up to four offshore export cable corridors. The project will provide up to 3,000 local jobs during construction and operation.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management led the Maryland Offshore Wind project through federal permitting. Learn more about this project on the Federal Permitting Dashboard.
About the Permitting Council and FAST-41
Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41) and made permanent in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Permitting Council is a unique federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of the federal environmental review and authorization process for certain critical infrastructure projects. The Permitting Council is comprised of the Permitting Council Executive Director, who serves as the Council Chair; 13 federal agency Council members (including deputy secretary-level designees of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Army, Commerce, Interior, Energy, Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation); and the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The Permitting Council coordinates federal environmental reviews and authorizations for projects that seek and qualify for FAST-41 coverage. FAST-41 covered projects are entitled to comprehensive permitting timetables and transparent, collaborative management of those timetables on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. FAST-41 covered projects may be in the renewable or conventional energy production, electricity transmission, energy storage, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, mining, carbon capture, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and machine learning, high-performance computing and advanced computer hardware and software, quantum information science and technology, data storage and data management, and cybersecurity sectors. The Permitting Council also serves as a federal center for permitting excellence, supporting federal efforts to improve infrastructure permitting including and beyond FAST-41 covered projects to the extent authorized by law, including activities that promote or provide for the efficient, timely, and predictable completion of environmental reviews and authorizations for federally-authorized infrastructure projects.
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Last Updated: Friday, January 17, 2025