CleanTechnica: “America’s New National Security Threat: Farmers With Wind Leases.” Trump has reportedly stalled about 165 onshore wind projects on private, not federal land, citing national security. “The projects reportedly represent nearly 30 gigawatts [GW] of potential generation, enough to matter to grids, counties, landowners, and tax bases.” And each GW represents enough power for some 300,000 ratepayers. I will grant you that moving blades can create radar clutter, + tall structures can affect flight paths.
“The DoD Siting Clearinghouse has reviewed energy projects for military compatibility since 2011.” An Air Force legal article says the Clearinghouse had reviewed thousands of wind energy projects and had made only one determination of “unacceptable risk to national security” out of those thousands.
“Wind farms curtail operations all the time for grid constraints, negative prices, maintenance, icing, storms, wildlife, noise agreements, and grid-operator instructions.” Public examples of DoD mitigation agreements include language requiring wind-farm operators to immediately curtail turbines when requested by DoD or NORAD for national-security or defense purposes.
A farmer leases land for oil and Washington calls it energy security. “A farmer leases land for wind and Washington calls the Pentagon.” Vague security fog should not be enough to freeze rural income, county revenue, construction jobs, power contracts, interconnection positions, and American electricity supply. We build lots of tall structures, including “cell towers, grain elevators, oil pumpjacks, refinery stacks, gas compressor stations, transmission towers, cranes, water towers + church steeples.”
“The rule seems to be that a private energy project is patriotic if it moves molecules, suspicious if it moves electrons, and terrifying if it has blades.” Cogently stated.
