Author: Maryland A.G. Staff    Published: 1o/29/2025    Maryland A.G. Press

6 Billion in Economic Benefits, Create 13,000 Jobs and Generate Enough Electricity to Power 700,000 Homes in Maryland

 BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown filed an amicus brief in federal court supporting US Wind’s request for a preliminary injunction to protect a major offshore wind project off Maryland’s coast. The project would generate 1,710 megawatts of electricity—enough to power more than 700,000 Maryland homes—and is estimated to support over 13,000 jobs and more than $6 billion in economic benefits to the state. 

The brief, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, comes as the Trump administration has targeted wind energy projects across the country and offshore wind energy in particular—one of Maryland’s most abundant and promising energy resources. If the federal government succeeds in delaying or terminating the US Wind project, Maryland would lose critical economic, energy, and environmental benefits. 

“Maryland has spent years building our offshore wind future, but the Trump administration’s actions threaten that progress and the thousands of jobs this project would create,” said Attorney General Brown. “We’re filing this brief to defend critical investments in Maryland communities, good-paying jobs for Marylanders, and the clean energy our families need as electricity demand and utility costs continue rising.”

Maryland has been actively developing its offshore wind industry for over a decade. The state enacted its first offshore wind legislation in 2013 and has since set increasingly ambitious goals, including a target of 8,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy generation by 2031. The Maryland Energy Administration has invested over $16 million in grants to develop the offshore wind supply chain and workforce in the state. 

US Wind has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to investments that must be made in Maryland, including over $75 million for steel and port facilities at Sparrows Point in Baltimore County. The project is projected to support more than 13,600 direct and secondary jobs throughout its construction and operation, with operations and maintenance facilities, vessels, and employees located in the State to manage the project over its lifetime. 

The project will arrive at a critical time for Maryland’s energy grid. Recent capacity auctions, which are used to secure long-term generation capacity for Maryland’s electricity grid, have resulted in record-breaking capacity prices driven by surging demand, particularly from new data centers. These prices are already impacting Marylanders’ electricity bills and underscore the need for new generation capacity just when US Wind’s project is expected to come online. The project’s first phase is expected to begin delivering electricity in 2029, as long as the federal government is prevented from further interfering with the project’s development.  

Beyond electricity generation, the project offers significant environmental and public health benefits. As a coastal state, Maryland faces mounting threats from climate change, including faster-than-average sea level rise and increased flooding. The US Wind project could yield hundreds of millions of dollars in public health savings by reducing harmful air pollution from other electricity sources while advancing the State’s air quality and climate goals. Earlier this year, the Maryland Public Service Commission relied on these findings when holding that the project is in the public interest. 

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