DOVER, Del. - Delaware’s Environmental Appeals Board has scheduled an August hearing on a challenge to a state review of the US Wind offshore wind project.
The hearing, filed by Edward E. Bintz, is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Aug. 25, 2026. Officials say it will be conducted in a hybrid format, with an in-person location at the Richardson and Robbins Building at 89 Kings Highway in Dover and a virtual option. The Appeals Board published notice of the meeting on Aug. 5.
Bintz filed the appeal in August 2024, challenging two conditional concurrence letters issued by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control through the Delaware Coastal Management Program. The letters concern federal reviews connected to US Wind's proposed offshore wind project, including its Construction and Operations Plan and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits and authorizations.
US Wind's proposal calls for an offshore wind project off the coast of Maryland, with offshore export cables that would make landfall at 3R's Beach in Delaware and connect to a proposed substation near the Indian River Power Plant. According to documents included with Bintz's appeal, the project could include up to 121 wind turbine generators and as many as four offshore substations.
What Bintz is challenging
In his Statement of Appeal, Bintz argues DNREC's federal consistency review did not comply with requirements of Delaware's Coastal Management Program.
Among his claims, Bintz alleges DNREC's public notices contained conflicting or confusing information about the certifications under review and did not adequately describe the proposed activity. He also argues US Wind's consistency analysis failed to adequately address what he describes as reasonably foreseeable effects on Delaware's coastal zone, including impacts on recreation, navigation, beach replenishment, and marine life.
DNREC's conditional concurrence allowed the federal permitting processes to advance but included a number of conditions. Those conditions address matters including state permits, protection of recreational uses, the burial depth of offshore export cables in Delaware waters, mitigation and monitoring, dredging restrictions, and measures intended to minimize turbidity during cable installation.
Dispute over the record
The appeal has also produced a lengthy dispute over what documents DNREC must provide for the Board's review.
DNREC initially sought to have the appeal dismissed, arguing the issues raised were outside the Environmental Appeals Board's jurisdiction. The Board denied that motion without prejudice in December 2024. Bintz subsequently sought production of what he called the "entire record" associated with DNREC's federal consistency decisions.
In a September 2025 order, the Board described the case as atypical because it does not challenge a final DNREC permitting or regulatory action. Instead, it challenges the Secretary's decision to issue the conditional concurrence letters that allowed the related federal permitting processes to move forward.
The Board ultimately sided with Bintz in that records dispute, finding the material DNREC had provided was insufficient to constitute the "entire record before the Secretary," according to the Board’s order granting a motion to compel.
The Board ordered the record to include correspondence, emails, documents and meeting notes involving the DNREC Secretary's Office and entities involved in the federal consistency review, including interested members of the public, US Wind, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
The upcoming Aug. 25 hearing, originally scheduled for March, will allow the parties to present evidence and either appear personally or be represented by Delaware counsel. The Board will make its decision based on the record before the DNREC Secretary and evidence presented by the parties.
Under Delaware law, the Board may affirm, reverse, or remand the Secretary's decision.
