Atlantic Shores Drops Bombshell at Zoning Meeting. But What Exactly Does It Mean?

Is the fast-fading offshore wind company merely bluffing its way out the door, or does it have something up its sleeve?

Atlantic Shores Attorney Nicholas Talvacchia and engineer Richard Hall testify before a packed house at Monday’s Egg Harbor Township zoning board meeting. Photo Linda Bonvie

No matter how many times Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind has been declared dead, it continues to limp about like a zombie reanimated by an otherworldly spell.

The latest bizarre oddity in the company’s attempt to present things as business as usual was its full-court press appearance at the Egg Harbor Township Zoning Board meeting on Monday.

Unintentionally sitting in what quickly became the Atlantic Shores section of the courtroom used for the session, I was particularly struck by the stacks of paperwork, folders, and other official-looking items that seemed to indicate there was serious business at hand.

But despite the ring of lawyers and corporate types, dressed in suits, ties, and really nice shoes, along with lead land-use attorney Nicholas Talvacchia, who was bolstered by project manager/engineer Richard Hall, the company’s request for a variance was deemed “incomplete.”

After its having been turned away for the time being, the meeting ended without giving those who came to protest the proposed action – the creation of an “unmanned” facility covering 107 acres in Egg Harbor Township to serve as one of the project’s onshore substations – a chance to speak their mind.

If it seems odd to you that these seeming professionals somehow managed to screw up what should have been a simple variance request, not even moving beyond the site plan checklist, it is indeed. That, however, wasn’t the most curious thing to happen on this occasion.

He said, she said

Before sending Atlantic Shores and its inadequate application packing, one board member asked an interesting question, producing both applause and hoots from the audience. Noting that Shell’s having “pulled out of this project” had become “public knowledge,” this inquisitive official wanted to know exactly what its ownership status will be going forward.

He was referring of course to a major announcement at the end of January from Shell’s Chief Financial Officer, Sinead Gorman, that her company was parting ways with the other corporate half of the Atlantic Shores duo, EDF Renewables.

“We just don’t see that (the offshore wind project) fits both our capabilities nor the returns that we would like,” Gorman said, adding, “We took the decision to effectively write that off and pause our involvement.”

And that was no shabby write-off, either, but one involving an investment of nearly $1 billion.

Atlantic Shores, however, offered a somewhat different version of the event in a contradictory statement made at the zoning board meeting — one which somehow seems to have slipped through the cracks of all the subsequent hoopla.

“Shell has not pulled out of Project One,” attorney Talvacchia told the zoning board. “They issued a statement last week,” he maintained, “that clarified they are still 50 percent partners in this project.”

When I approached him and asked if he could provide more details, his response was, “I made a public statement and I stand by that.”

But sitting nearby was Jennifer Daniels, the chief development officer at Atlantic Shores, who quickly backed up Talvacchia’s rendition of events, stating that Shell not only remains a participant but is “still a 50 percent partner in our venture and they are still committed to Project One.”

(“Project One” is the name attached to the Atlantic Shores proposal, which has received a full seal of approval from the feds. It would consist of up to 200 gigantic wind turbines that would be embedded in the sea floor from Atlantic City to Barnegat Light at the northern end of Long Beach Island, with all the resulting damage to the environment and already threatened species it would bring about if completed).

When subsequently asked to verify that, Shell’s corporate office responded with a similar comment, conveyed in an email from Natalie Gunnell, the company’s communications director: “We are still 50% owners…with our partner EDF Renewables.”

As far as what appeared to be another fatal blow to Atlantic Shores –- the Monday withdrawal by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) of its fourth offshore wind solicitation for the project–- that was also deemed by Daniels to be a big nothingburger.

“We’re certainly disappointed that there wasn’t an award,” she said, “but we have a standing OREC with the state of New Jersey, so that decision not to award today does not influence that OREC.”

The “award,” Daniels was talking about refers to a request by a wind energy company to the BPU for a certain amount of money per generated megawatt hour. That translates into offshore renewable energy credits, known as ORECs, which in essence pays the company for the electricity it generates.

The Atlantic Shores OREC, even if still valid (which many believe is not the case), was priced in 2021 at an amount that is not going to make the company the obscene profits it was hoping to reap from this project after all.

But those who have been fighting Atlantic Shores on this issue for years now firmly believe that the BPU will soon terminate the company’s current OREC anyway.

And that’s an action that should put a final stake through the heart of this ill-conceived project once and for all. Or as those of us who have seen our share of horror movies can only hope.