Action on Wind Power Next Week?

It looks like we might get some action on wind power next week. The News Journal reports that legislators are talking about voting on House Concurrent Resolution 38 next week. They certainly are in no mood to have the legislative calendar dictated by Delmarva Power:

"I can guarantee you we're not going to wait around until the end of May, the beginning of June to make a decision on what we're going to do on this issue in the House," said Majority Leader Richard Cathcart, R-Middletown.

Delmarva Power wants the General Assembly to do nothing until the company releases the results of bids for onshore wind power in the first week of June. The House held off consideration of HCR 38 before the Easter break. But there is a growing impatience among legislators with Delmarva's stalling tactics:

Cathcart and Rep. Robert Valihura, R-Beau Tree, said senior Delmarva officials and their lobbyist, Joe Farley, met with the House Republican caucus shortly before the break. Both lawmakers said they heard Delmarva representatives promise them cost estimates for onshore wind bids, which they could compare to Bluewater prices, by the time they return next week.
But Delmarva spokesman Bill Yingling said the company never made such a promise. He said the company only said it would have preliminary numbers by the end of March, and those numbers would not be released.
"Representative Valihura must have misunderstood our statements," Yingling said.
In reaction, Valihura said, "That's just a flat-out lie." And Cathcart added. "If they're telling you they did not say that, they're not telling you the truth."

One thing you never want to do in Leg Hall is have legislators publicy pissed off at you.
I have thought for a while that legislators don't want this on the agenda in June. There is too much big stuff to deal with, including a difficult budget, for them to want to still be considering wind power in the final weeks of the session.
Legislators understand the wind farm is a popular with the public:

Cathcart said he recently polled his constituents, asking whether they would be willing to pay between $7 and $15 more per month for power from the Bluewater project. The overwhelming majority said yes, he said.

Given the public support for offshore wind, Delmarva Power's clumsy attempts to engineer grassroots support from its employees seems like it comes about a year late, just like its effort to buy time by shopping for out of state wind power.