Court filing

Exhibit 1 — Request for Supplemental EIS — Ocean City v. Interior

Summary

A letter dated September 20, 2024 from Marzulla Law to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Director Liz Klein of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Administrator Janet Coit of the National Marine Fisheries Service, filed April 13, 2026 as Document 139-2 in Case 1:24-cv-03111-SAG. Writing for the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City, Maryland, Worcester County, Fenwick Island and other clients, the firm asks for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and re-initiation of Section 7 consultation for the U.S. Wind Project, slated to be built 10.7 miles offshore. It cites the July 13, 2024 blade failure at the Vineyard Wind Project and one at the Dogger Bank wind farm as significant new information. The letter says the clients have instructed the firm to take legal action if the agencies refuse.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Filed April 13, 2026 in Ocean City v. Interior; one of 7 filings from this case.

Record facts

Court	U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
Filed	2026-04-13

Cite this document

“Exhibit 1 — Request for Supplemental EIS — Ocean City v. Interior.” U.S. District Court, District of Maryland, No. 1:24-cv-03111-SAG, Doc. 139-2, filed 2026-04-13. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/court-filings/ocean-city-v-interior/2026-04-13-exhibit-1-letter-supplemental-eis/, SHA-256 4f436449b3e4b83b58455b756e4c5a745c30fad46a510c60e5e81cbc34ed364f.

Search CourtListener for this docket number

Full text

Text recognized from a scanned document; may contain errors. Page 1 of 12 is not shown because the text could not be recognized reliably.

Marzulla Law

September 20, 2024

Hon. Deb Haaland

Secretary of the Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20240

Hon. Liz Klein

Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
1849 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20240

Hon. Janet Coit

Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service
1315 East-West Highway

Silver Spring, MD 20910

Program Chief

Office of Renewable Energy

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
45600 Woodland Rd

VAM-OREP

Sterling, VA 20166

Re: Maryland Offshore Wind Project—Request for a Supplemental EIS

Dear Secretary Haaland, Director Klein, Administrator Coit, and the Maryland Offshore
Wind Program Chief:

We represent the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City, Maryland, the County
Commissioner of Worcester County, Maryland, the Mayor and Town Council of Fenwick
Island, Bay Shore Development Corporation, Castle in the Sand, Inc., Citizens for Ocean
City, Inc., the Coastal Association of Realtors of Maryland, Inc., the Delmarva
Community Managers Association, Inc., Fager’s Island LTD., George Topping, James
Hospitality LLC, Little Salisbury Civic Association, Inc., Ocean Amusements, Inc.,
Ocean City Development Corporation, the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant

Association, Inc., Ocean City Marlin Club, Inc., Ocean City, Maryland, Chamber of
Commerce, Inc., Skilligalee Seafood, LLC, Skilligalee, Inc., Sunset Marina, LLC (d/b/a
Ocean City Fishing Center), Sunset Marina, LLC (d/b/a OC Fisherman’s Marina), Sunset
Marina, LLC (d/b/a Sunset Marina), The Harrison Group, Time, Inc., and White Marlin
Open Inc., in connection with the U.S. Wind Project, slated to be built 10.7 miles
offshore, that you recently approved.

Recent devastating turbine blade failures off the coast of Massachusetts, and the
now realized risk of toxins and contaminants being released in the event of turbine failure
comprise significant new information that was never analyzed during the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for this major federal action. Nor have the
environmental impacts of turbine blade failure—a known risk in both onshore and
offshore wind facilities—ever been analyzed in any Environmental Impact Statement
prepared by any federal agency. Federal law requires you to prepare a Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement for this Project. That same new information, which was
not analyzed in the Section 7 consultation for this Project, also requires the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to re-initiate Section 7 consultation with the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and NMFS must now prepare a new
Biological Opinion that analyzes these potential impacts.

Should you refuse to take these actions, our clients have instructed us to take legal
action, seeking judicial assistance to ensure that you comply with the requirements of
NEPA and the ESA.

Significant New Information Requires the Preparation of a Supplemental EIS and
Re-initiation of ESA Consultation

NEPA regulations require BOEM to prepare a Supplemental EIS when “[t]here
are substantial new circumstances or information about the significance of adverse effects
that bear on the analysis.”! A supplemental EIS is necessary when new information
“provides a seriously different picture of the environmental landscape.”* As the Supreme
Court has held, “if the new information is sufficient to show that the remaining action

' 40 CER. § 1502.9(d).
2 Wisconsin v. Weinberger, 745 F.2d 412, 418 (7th Cir. 1984).

Request for Supplemental EIS
September 20, 2024
Page 3 of 11

will ‘affect the quality of the human environment’ in a significant manner or to a
significant extent not already considered, a supplemental EIS must be prepared.”?

Likewise, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires that Section 7 consultation
be re-initiated whenever “new information reveals effects of the action that may affect
listed species or critical habitat in a manner or to an extent not previously considered.’ In
addition, consultation must be re-initiated when the “identified action is subsequently
modified in a manner that causes an effect to the listed species or critical habitat that was
not considered in the biological opinion or written concurrence.”

“[A]n agency’s responsibility to reinitiate consultation does not terminate when the
underlying action is complete,” consistent with the “ESA’s statutory command that
agencies consult to ensure the ‘continued existence’ of listed species.”

Recent Catastrophic Turbine Blade Failures Require Supplemental NEPA Analysis
and Re-initiation of Section 7 Consultation

On July 13, 2024, a large portion of a 350-foot, 57-ton fiberglass, Polyvinyl
chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) blade broke off a newly
constructed turbine in the Vineyard Wind Project, scattering thousands of shards across
the ocean’s surface. Over the next few days, additional pieces of the blade also fell into
the ocean, adding to the mayhem. The Coast Guard sealed off the area from ship transit,
and the company attempted to remove shards of the shattered blade from the ocean.
These efforts were largely unsuccessful, and thousands of tons of debris washed ashore
not only in Nantucket fifteen miles away—closing its beaches—but were also carried
many miles away to wash up on Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod, the beaches of Rhode
Island, and even Montauk.

Vineyard Wind’s blade failure is not an isolated incident. Recently a blade on one
of the turbines at the Dogger Bank wind farm off the coast of England failed—the second

3 Marsh v. Oregon Natural Resources Council, 490 U.S. 360, 374 (1989) (quoting 42
U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C)).

450 C.FR. § 402.16.

5 Id.

® Cottonwood Env‘ L. Ctr. v. U.S. Forest Serv., 789 F.3d 1075, 1086 (9th Cir. 2015).
7 Id. (emphasis added).

Request for Supplemental EIS
September 20, 2024
Page 4 of 11

blade failure at that facility in three months.* Globally, 0.54% of blades fail each year,
with around 3,800 failures yearly.? Closer to home, in 2022, a blade—the height of an 11-
story building weighing over four Toyota Camrys—flew off a turbine at the Bigelow
Canyon project and landed in a nearby field, creating a four-foot-deep trench where it
landed.'° There are also repeated instances of turbines collapsing across the world.
Turbines in Germany, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Wales, and Colorado have all collapsed
within the last several years,!! several of which were caused by turbine fires and lightning
strikes.

In January 2024, a turbine in a northern Colorado wind farm caught fire and folded
in half. Shortly after the collapse, the turbine’s owners speculated that “a blade
malfunctioned and struck the tower, causing the collapse much like the side of a soda can
being poked.”’!? In May 2024, a wind turbine in Chesapeake, Virginia, caught fire after
being struck by lightning.'? Recently, a farmer in Mechanicsville, Iowa, who has utility-
owned turbines on her land, has had three turbines catch on fire after being struck by

8 Second GE Vernova Turbine Blade Reportedly Fails at UK's Dogger Bank Wind Farm,
Offshore (Aug. 23, 2024), https://www.offshore-mag.com/renewable-
energy/article/55135538/second-ge-vernova-turbine-blade-reportedly-fails-at-uks-
dogger-bank-wind-farm.

* Leon Mishnaevsky, Jr., Root Causes and Mechanisms of Failure of Wind Turbine
Blades: Overview, National Library of Medicine (Apr. 19, 2022),
https://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9101399/pdf/materials-15-02959. pdf.

10 Ted Sickinger, Wind Bust, The Oregonian (Aug. 27, 2022),
https://projects.oregonlive.com/wind-farms/

1! Tim Newcomb, Giant Wind Turbines Keep Mysteriously Falling Over. This Shouldn t
Be Happening., Popular Mechanics (Jan. 23, 2023),
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a42622565/wind-turbines-
falling-over/.

12 Logan Smith, Turbine at Colorado Wind Farm Collapses, Burns, CBS News (Jan. 15,
2024), https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/turbine-colorado-wind-farm-collapses-
burns-invenergy-clearway-clean-energy-fire/.

|3 Patriceia Beckford, Lightning Catches Wind Turbine on Fire at Brock Environmental
Center, 13 News Now (May 27, 2024),

https://www. | 3newsnow.com/article/weather/brock-environmental-center-wind-turbine-
catches-fire-due-to-lightning/29 1 -23d0907e-0746-4b48-ae94-68d89547859e.

Request for Supplemental EIS
September 20, 2024
Page 5 of 11

lightning in the last eighteen months. !* After catching on fire, the turbine blades fell to the
ground, littering her land with debris. Even after the turbines’ owners “cleaned up,” her
land was covered with wires, fiberglass, and industrial equipment. With the fiberglass and
waste in the fields, more than 1,000 acres of her land are unusable. '*

The blades for the Vineyard Wind Project are the same size as the ones that will be
installed just 10.7 miles from the shores of Ocean City, Maryland, with 342 football field-
length blades on 114 turbines. If all of the turbines are built out, as planned, as many as
two blades per year could fall into the ocean, contributing 100 tons of toxic fiberglass and
foam littering the ocean and washing up on the shores of Maryland and Delaware each
year.

Blade failures like the one at Vineyard Wind are devastating for safety, the
environment, and local communities and residents. For boaters and fishermen, colliding
with the debris could result in sinking and loss of life.

That debris is also dangerous for fish and marine mammals that come in contact
with the debris or will eventually consume the microplastic degradation products.

For nearby communities, debris washing ashore impacts beaches, tourism, and the
coastal environment, resulting in financial hardship from cleaning debris and decreasing
tourism. For the Town of Ocean City and the Town of Fenwick Island, closing beaches
due to blade debris—which was required in Nantucket—will devastate the local economy
and tourism. And debris and contaminants in the ocean will put residents and visitors at
risk for injury or illness from coming into contact with the chemicals and toxins.

The vast majority of the blade debris consists of PVC and PET foam. Exposure to
sunlight, wind, rain, and ocean water will degrade PVC foam, allowing it to contaminate
the marine food chain with microplastics. As reported in the peer-reviewed journal

'4 Jackson Valenti, Wind Turbine Fire in Mechanicsville Could Cost Farmer Millions,
KCRG (Aug. 16, 2024), https://www.kcrg.com/2024/08/17/wind-turbine-fire-
mechanicsville-could-cost-farmer-millions/.

13 Td.

“Materials,” in January of this year, “PVC is considered the most environmentally

damaging plastic and one of the most toxic substances for inhabitants of our planet.”!®

PVC is not the only toxin contained in the blade debris. PET in the marine
environment is toxic to species ranging from copepods (the primary food source for the
North Atlantic right whale) and sea bass to marine mammals.’ The epoxy resins that
impregnate the blades contain large quantities of Bisphenol A (BPA). BPA acts like a
hormone in the body and can increase the risk of prostate, breast, and ovarian cancer.!®
BPA can also cause weight gain,'® influence development,”° and alter the immune

Up to 20% of the PVC foam contains toxic additives and resins that are released
when the foam degrades. The material safety data sheet by Vineyard Wind on the
composition of the blade lists a plethora of harmful substances, many of which are

16 Marcin H. Kudzin et al., Risks Associated with the Presence of Polyvinyl Chloride in
the Environment and Methods for Its Disposal and Utilization (Dec. 28, 2023),
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/17/1/173.

!17 Subhankar Chatterjee and Shivika Sharma, Microplastics In our Oceans and Marine
Health, Field Actions Science Reports (2019),
https://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/5257.

'8 Hui Gao et al., Bisphenol A and Hormone-Associated Cancers: Current Progress and
Perspectives (Jan. 2015), https://jjournals.ltww.com/md-
journal/fulltext/2015/01010/bisphenol_a_and_hormone_associated_cancers_.6.aspx.

'9 Minh T. Do et al., Urinary bisphenol A and obesity in adults: results from the Canadian
Health Measures Survey (Dec. 2017), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29236378/.

20 Mass.gov, Protect Your Baby from BPA (Bisphenol A), https://www.mass.gov/info-
details/protect-your-baby-from-bpa-bisphenol-a (last visited Aug. 20, 2024).

21 Thea Golden et al., Jmmunomodulatory Role of EDCs in Disrupting Metabolic Health,
ENDOCRINE DISRUPTION AND HUMAN HEALTH (Philippa D. Darbre, ed., 2d ed. 2022).

considered cancer-causing, including styrene,2? phthalates, formaldehyde,”* benzene,”*

PFAs,”° and butadiene.”¢

Many of the compounds listed in the data safety sheet are labeled “toxic” and “very
toxic” to aquatic life with long-lasting effects.

Given that each blade weighs 70 tons, and that we might expect to see 15 blade
failures a year when all nine of the projects have been constructed, we clearly need to
know more about the life cycle of the debris and to what extent the pollution from the
blade failure will harm human and marine life.

Microplastics present a significant health risk. A recent article in the New England
Journal of Medicine reports that about 58% of the study’s patients with atherosclerotic
disease (plaques in vessels that clog them up) have microplastics in the plaques. The
patients with positive findings of microplastics have 2.1 times (more than 200%) the risk
of bad outcomes (subsequent stroke, heart attack, and death) compared to those that do

22 National Toxicology Program, /5th Report on Carcinogens (Dec. 21, 2021),
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK590797/.

23 National Cancer Institute, Formaldehyde, https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-
prevention/risk/substances/formaldehyde (last visited Aug. 20, 2024).

24 1J.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Facts About Benzene,
200f%20Health%20and,of%20the%20blood%2Dforming™s20organs (last visited Aug.
20, 2024).

25 National Cancer Institute, PEAS Exposure and Risk of Cancer,
https://dceg.cancer.gov/research/what-we-study/pfas (last visited Aug. 20, 2024).

26 Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, ToxFAQs for 1,3-Butadiene,

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/ToxFAQs/ToxFA QsDetails.aspx?faqid=458 &toxid=81 (last
visited Aug. 20, 2024)

27 Raffaele Marfella et al., Microplastics and nanoplastics in Atheromas and
Cardiovascular Events (Mar. 6, 2024),
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10,1056/NEJMoa2309822.

Request for Supplemental EIS
September 20, 2024
Page 8 of 11

A recent study found that PET fibers were commonly found in the tissues of marine
mammals.” These microplastics can cause inflammation, tissue damage, fertility
problems, endocrine disruption, and behavioral changes, diminishing the resiliency of
marine species, including baleen whales.”?

The number of published studies considering the effects of microplastic particles on
aquatic organisms is considerable. In aquatic invertebrates, microplastics cause a decline
in feeding behavior and fertility, slow down larval growth and development, increase
oxygen consumption, and stimulate the production of reactive oxygen species. In fish, the
microplastics may cause structural damage to the intestine, liver, gills, and brain, while
affecting metabolic balance, behavior, and fertility; the degree of these harmful effects
depends on the particle sizes and doses, as well as the exposure parameters.*°

The Final EIS’s analysis on the release of these toxins and debris from blade
failures and Project equipment failures is nonexistent.

NMFS’ analysis in the Biological Opinion is also deficient. While the release of
microplastics is discussed, that discussion and analysis are minimal and only apply to the
Giant Manta Ray and no other species.”!

A broken or collapsed turbine poses a lethal threat to nearby boaters and fishermen
in the area, marine mammals and fish—including listed species—and all those that come
in contact with the debris and any of the chemicals released. The threat of a blade or
turbine failure is not imagined or hypothetical, and it should have been evaluated and

28 Greg B. Merrill et al., Microplastics in Marine Mammal Blubber, Melon, & Other
Tissues: Evidence of Translocation, Environ Pollut. (Oct. 15, 2023),
https://pubmed.ncbi.nim.nth.gov/37541381/.

29 Natalia Zolotova et al., Harmful Effects of the Microplastic Pollution on Animal
Health: A Literature Review (June 14, 2022),
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9205308/; Marine Mammals
Management Toolkit, Study: Microplastics Found in 2/3 Marine Mammals, (Aug. 15,
2023), https://marine-mammals.info/study-microplastics-found-in-2-3-marine-mammals/.
30 Natalia Zolotova et al., Harmful Effects of the Microplastic Pollution on Animal
Health: A Literature Review, National Library of Medicine (June 14, 2022),
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9205308/.

31 National Marine Fisheries Service, Biological Opinion (June 18, 2024) at 93-94,

Request for Supplemental EIS
September 20, 2024
Page 9 of 11

raised in the Government’s environmental review documents before BOEM or any other
agency issued its approvals. But because BOEM, NMFS, and the Developer glossed over
the possibility of blade and turbine failures, the public was never informed that this event
could occur and had no real opportunity to comment on the scenario. We now know how
real and possible blade failure is and we, as well as the public, must have an opportunity
to see these risks and safety issues analyzed and have an opportunity to evaluate and
comment on any mitigation measures or preventative measures proposed by BOEM,
NMEFS, and the Developer. Because of this new information, BOEM must prepare a
supplemental EIS.

BOEM and NMFS have a continuing obligation to request reinitiation when new
information or events reveal additional effects that that may affect endangered species.*?
Vineyard Wind’s blade failure and the highly likely chance that several blades at the
Maryland Offshore Wind Project and the 30-odd other offshore wind projects slated for
approval will fail over the lifetime of the Project have triggered BOEM and NMFS’s
continuing obligation. NMFS has a duty to evaluate the impacts of the release of these
microplastics and toxins on all endangered species in the area. Failing to do so shirks its
duties under the ESA, which commands “all federal agencies ‘to ensure that actions
authorized, funded, or carried out by them do not jeopardize the continued existence’ of an
endangered species or ‘result in the destruction or modification of habitat of such species .
... This language admits of no exception.”

Conclusion

A Supplemental EIS and reinitiation of Section 7 consultation for the Maryland
Offshore Wind Project are necessary now because the new information regarding blade
and turbine failures—highlighted by the recent failures at Vineyard Wind and Dogger
Bank “provide[] a dangerously different picture of the environmental landscape.’”** The
absence of adequate (or any) discussion, consideration, and analysis of these issues in the

32 50 CFR. § 402.16.

33 Tennessee Valley Auth. v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153, 173 (1978) (quoting 16 U.S.C. § 1536
(1976)).

34 Nat’l Comm. for the New River v. FERC, 373 F.3d 1323, 1330 (D.C. Cir. 2004).

Request for Supplemental EIS
September 20, 2024
Page 10 of 11

Final EIS, Biological Opinion, and other environmental review documents “undermine[s]
informed public comment and informed decisionmaking.”*°

Your failure to disclose the impacts from possible blade and turbine failures can be
remedied before any construction takes place and we implore you to follow the law and
publish a Supplemental EIS and reinitiate Section 7 consultation.

Yours truly,

Dated: September 20, 2024 Nancie G. Marzulla
Roger J. Marzulla
Mollie A. Jackowski
Marzulla Law, LLC
1150 Connecticut Avenue NW
Suite 1050
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 822-6760
nancie@marzulla.com
roger@marzulla.com
mollie@marzulla.com

Bruce F. Bright

Heather E. Stansbury

Ayres, Jenkins, Gordy & Almand,
PA.

6200 Coastal Highway, Suite 200
Ocean City, Maryland 21842
bbright@ajgalaw.com
hstansbury@ajgalaw.com
410-723-1400

Attorneys for Mayor and City
Council of Ocean City, Maryland,
the County Commissioner of
Worcester County, Maryland, the

33 Mayo v. Reynolds, 875 F.3d 11, 20 (D.C. Cir. 2017).

Mayor and Town Council of
Fenwick Island, Bay Shore
Development Corporation, Castle
in the Sand, Inc., Citizens for
Ocean City, Inc., the Coastal
Association of Realtors of
Maryland, Inc., the Delmarva
Community Managers
Association, Inc., Fager’s Island
LTD., George Topping, James
Hospitality LLC, Little Salisbury
Civic Association, Inc., Ocean
Amusements, Inc., Ocean City
Development Corporation, the
Ocean City Hotel-Motel-
Restaurant Association, Inc.,
Ocean City Marlin Club, Inc.,
Ocean City, Maryland, Chamber
of Commerce, Inc., Skilligalee
Seafood, LLC, Skilligalee, Inc.,
Sunset Marina, LLC (d/b/a Ocean
City Fishing Center), Sunset
Marina, LLC (d/b/a OC
Fisherman’s Marina), Sunset
Marina, LLC (d/b/a Sunset
Marina), The Harrison Group,
Time, Inc., and White Marlin
Open Inc.

File and source

File: collins_sba_rrf__docket-69311769__doc-139_att-2__id-475747729__Exhibit_1.pdf
Size: 1,099,559 bytes
SHA-256: 4f436449b3e4b83b58455b756e4c5a745c30fad46a510c60e5e81cbc34ed364f
Our copy: collins_sba_rrf__docket-69311769__doc-139_att-2__id-475747729__Exhibit_1.pdf
Original: storage.courtlistener.com