Cape May, NJ – The Cape May City Council voted Tuesday to accept a $500,000 Coastal Resiliency Grant funded through the Ocean Wind Pro-NJ Grantor Trust, adding the money to the city’s budget for future shoreline resilience projects.
The funding was authorized through Resolution No. 290-08-2026, which requests approval from the New Jersey Division of Local Government Services to insert the grant into the city’s 2026 budget. Under the resolution, both the revenue and appropriation are identified as the “2025-2026 Coastal Resiliency Grant” in the amount of $500,000.
The council action follows a July 16 award letter notifying Cape May that its grant application had been approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees.
Grant awarded following formal application
According to the letter, the Ocean Wind Pro-NJ Grantor Trust reviewed Cape May’s application before approving the award.
“Congratulations! On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Ocean Wind Pro-NJ Grantor Trust… the Trustees voted to award your grant request in the amount of $500,000,” Board Chairman Brian K. Jackson wrote.
The letter was addressed to Mayor Zack Mullock, City Manager Paul Dietrich and City Engineer Jim Rutala.
Before any funds are released, the city must complete grant paperwork, execute a grant agreement and submit a disbursement schedule dividing the funding into three installments. According to the award letter, the final disbursement must occur no later than the end of fiscal year 2028.
Neither the resolution nor the award letter identifies the specific resiliency projects that will ultimately receive funding.
What is the Ocean Wind Pro-NJ Grantor Trust?
The Ocean Wind Pro-NJ Grantor Trust is not a government agency.
Instead, it is a private grant fund established in 2019 after offshore wind developer Ørsted committed approximately $15 million to support economic development and coastal resiliency projects connected to New Jersey’s offshore wind initiative.
According to the Trust’s published materials, the funding was intended to support two primary goals.
The first was helping small businesses, minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses and veteran-owned businesses participate in New Jersey’s developing offshore wind supply chain.
The second was providing grants for coastal resiliency and infrastructure projects in Atlantic, Cape May and Ocean counties.
The Trust says it operates independently through a three-member board of trustees representing those counties.
Although the Ocean Wind projects themselves were ultimately canceled by Ørsted, previously committed Trust funding has continued to be distributed through competitive grant applications.
Political scrutiny continues after Ocean Wind’s cancellation
The grant has renewed attention on the political legacy of New Jersey’s offshore wind program.
Protect Our Coast NJ, an organization that opposes offshore wind development, criticized Cape May’s acceptance of the grant, arguing the funding remains tied to Ørsted despite the cancellation of the Ocean Wind projects.
The organization described the Trust as part of a broader network of financial commitments created during the development of New Jersey’s offshore wind industry and questioned why grants continue to be distributed years after the projects ended.
The group also criticized Mayor Zack Mullock, who is running for Congress, for supporting the grant.
The city has not suggested that accepting the grant violates any law or ethics rules, and the council resolution identifies the funding as a standard grant award requiring state approval before being added to the municipal budget.
A law firm with bipartisan political ties
The Trust’s administration has also attracted attention because it is managed by Florio Perrucci Steinhardt Cappelli Tipton & Taylor LLC, one of New Jersey’s best-known politically connected law firms.
The firm traces its roots to former New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio, who founded Florio & Perrucci after leaving public office. Over the years, the practice expanded through mergers and additions to become Florio Perrucci Steinhardt Cappelli Tipton & Taylor.
Today, one of the firm’s most prominent attorneys is New Jersey State Sen. Doug Steinhardt, a Republican representing the 23rd Legislative District and former chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee. Steinhardt serves as a shareholder of the firm, giving the Trust’s administrator leadership that includes one of New Jersey’s highest-profile Republican elected officials.
The firm’s bipartisan makeup has frequently drawn attention because it combines attorneys with longstanding connections to both Democratic and Republican administrations throughout New Jersey.
Jim Florio’s role in offshore wind
Before his death in 2022, former Gov. Jim Florio became one of New Jersey’s most visible advocates for offshore wind energy.
During a public hearing in Ocean City in November 2021 regarding Ørsted’s proposed Ocean Wind 1 project, Florio urged regulators and residents to support offshore wind development.
“No force is more powerful than an idea whose time has come—the idea of dealing with climate change and dealing with clean energy,” Florio said during the hearing.
Florio also noted that he owned a home in Sea Isle City and had traveled to Denmark to observe offshore wind facilities.
At the time, Florio was affiliated with the law firm that had been selected to administer the Ocean Wind Pro-NJ Grantor Trust established through Ørsted’s funding commitment.
That relationship has become a point of criticism for opponents of offshore wind, who argue the arrangement illustrates the close relationships between politically connected law firms, developers and public officials involved in New Jersey’s offshore wind program.
Supporters, however, have pointed out that the Trust operates as an independent private entity with published grant guidelines and that its funding originates from commitments made by Ørsted rather than direct taxpayer appropriations.
Where does the money come from?
According to the Trust’s website, Ørsted committed approximately $15 million over an eight-year period beginning in 2019.
The money is not appropriated through the New Jersey state budget.
Instead, the funding comes from contractual commitments made by the offshore wind developer as part of its New Jersey offshore wind proposals.
A separate Ocean Wind 2 proposal also included an additional commitment for another Pro-NJ Grantor Trust focused on workforce development, environmental justice initiatives and small-business participation.
Whether the ultimate economic costs of those developer commitments would have been reflected in electricity prices has been the subject of public debate. The Trust itself does not state that it is funded through taxpayer appropriations or utility ratepayer surcharges.
Why the grant matters
Cape May has long faced coastal erosion, flooding and storm damage associated with its location along the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay.
Municipal officials routinely pursue state, federal and private funding opportunities to improve shoreline protection and strengthen coastal infrastructure.
The newly approved $500,000 grant represents one of the larger private resiliency awards received by the city in recent years.
While the council resolution does not specify how the funding will be spent, the grant is expected to support projects intended to improve Cape May’s resilience to coastal hazards.
At the same time, the funding underscores how New Jersey’s offshore wind program continues to influence local governments even after the cancellation of the Ocean Wind projects.
The developer-funded Trust remains active, distributing millions of dollars that were committed years earlier. For supporters, those grants represent an opportunity to fund coastal infrastructure and resilience projects without drawing from municipal budgets. For critics, they serve as a reminder of the political and financial relationships created during New Jersey’s ambitious offshore wind expansion.
This article is based on Resolution No. 290-08-2026 adopted by the Cape May City Council on Tuesday, the Ocean Wind Pro-NJ Grantor Trust’s July 16, 2026 grant award letter to Cape May officials, publicly available Trust materials describing its funding and mission, and public statements made during New Jersey offshore wind proceedings.
