NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — The owners of a port in Paulsboro, New Jersey, have sued to evict a tenant who they said is no longer manufacturing equipment for offshore wind power.
The Paulsboro Waterfront Development Corporation said the lease to German manufacturer EEW was specifically for the manufacturing of monopiles, which are cylindrical steel supports for turbines about 40 feet in diameter and 400 feet long.
The lease was also supposed to be for building other offshore wind components.
Spokesman Kevin Feeley said they’re not building anything there since the offshore wind program in New Jersey was terminated, which means the lease to EEW is now void.
“No one disputes that EEW is not using the facility for wind energy, nor will it ever do so in the future,” Feeley said. “In our view, since EEW has therefore abandoned the stated purpose of the lease, we want the facility back.”
Feeley said EEW has no right to do anything else beyond offshore wind manufacturing as per the lease, and the lawsuit seeks to evict them from the property.
“We want it back so that we can develop it as a marine terminal, in a more traditional sense, a marine terminal that will bring real jobs and investment to South Jersey,” he said.
Offshore wind was the subject of a years-long debate in New Jersey starting as early as 2019, but concerns lingered about the impact on local marine wildlife and the imagery of a turbine emerging from an ocean view. The last of the offshore wind projects was canceled in August when the Trump administration revoked the permits for all offshore wind projects nationwide.