{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://harris.house.gov/media/in-the-news/harris-joins-turbine-site-location-fray", "Harris Joins Turbine Site Location Fray", "2017-07-21", "2017", "2017-07", "Republican", "House", "MD", "Andy Harris", "H001052", "harris.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Local government\u2019s fight to keep wind turbines out of sight of vacationers in Ocean City picked up support this week from Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st).\nOn Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment proposed by Harris for the Interior Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018.\nHarris\u2019 proposition would prohibit the use of federal funding for reviewing site assessments or construction and operations plans for wind turbines located less than 24 nautical miles from Maryland shorelines.\nOn May 11 the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) elected to permit two wind farm projects to proceed off the coast from Ocean City.\nDeepwater Wind hopes to have its Skipjack Wind Farm, located offshore between Maryland and Delaware, operational by 2023. Deepwater developed and operates the first working offshore wind turbine in the U.S., near Block Island, south of Rhode Island and east of Long Island.\n\u201cI was disappointed that the developers really don\u2019t appear to care whether or not these windmills are visible from the shore and what that effect would have on local real estate and the tourism industry,\u201d Harris said.\nThe congressman said the tourism industry is one of the primary economic engines driving commerce on the lower shore.\n\u201cStudies have shown pretty clearly that ruining the view-scape with wind turbines would be detrimental,\u201d he said.\nOcean City Mayor Rick Meehan spoke with Harris on Wednesday concerning the effort to locate the wind farms farther out to sea.\n\u201cI believe [Harris] supports Ocean City\u2019s position that we are not in opposition to the wind farms, we just don\u2019t want to see them off our coast,\u201d he said.\nMeehan said the town recognizes that the projects will promote economic growth for numerous Maryland jurisdictions.\n\u201cWe really would like to work with both companies, and with other jurisdictions, to support them in their efforts to move the windmills back beyond that 24, 25, 26-mile limit from the shoreline in Ocean City,\u201d he said.\nHarris also questioned the conclusion reached by the PSC that wind farms will have a positive impact on the local economy.\n\u201cIf you look at the people\u2019s counsel opinion on the Public Service Commission decision \u2026 they dwell on the fact that the economic impact has not been properly evaluated,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they discounted the negative economic impact on Ocean City.\u201d\nHarris also expressed concern about a possible increase in his constituents\u2019 electricity rates.\n\u201cIt will have a negative economic impact for every Maryland family because every \u2026 family is going to have to pay more on their monthly electric,\u201d he said.\nIn addition to the negative effect on tourism, Meehan cited other drawbacks.\n\u201cIf they\u2019re built as proposed, I believe they will have a detrimental impact, not just on tourism, but on property values,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have 26,000 property owners in Ocean City.\u201d\nWith a congressional recess scheduled for August, Harris is not anticipating a final action on his amendment until later this year.\n\u201cThis gives the developers several months to get together [and] reformulate the plan that is acceptable to Ocean City,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping that everyone can come to an agreement by then so that I can withdraw the need for this amendment to remain in the final bill.\u201d\nMeehan also hopes an amicable arrangement can be reached.\n\u201cWe only get one chance to get this right and I think our goal is to all work together \u2026 so that it\u2019s right for Ocean City and it\u2019s also right for business development that other jurisdictions see from this project,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully, we can come to what would be a win-win situation for everybody.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://harris.house.gov/media/in-the-news/harris-joins-turbine-site-location-fray"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2506151106208563, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}