Benjamin Storrow and David Iaconangelo, E&E News reporters Climatewire: Friday, May 24, 2019
Offshore wind developers are up in arms over a provision inserted into the Defense appropriations bill earlier this week requiring the Pentagon to study the impact of turbines on military radar and sonar.
The American Wind Energy Association labeled the study “duplicative” in a statement yesterday, while the National Ocean Industries Association warned that it “threatens to derail” the nascent industry.
The outcry follows the House Appropriations Committee’s passage of a nearly $690 billion Defense spending bill Tuesday. Included in the legislation was a requirement that the secretary of Defense submit a study of “any potential national security concerns with respect to the construction of offshore wind arrays, to include an examination of legacy and new turbines, and any appropriate mitigation measures that should be implemented to address these concerns.”
An amendment carrying the language said, “The Committee recognizes that wind turbine structures, particularly when arranged in large arrays, may cause interference to standards and that vibrations generated by the operation of turbines may cause sonic interference to underwater sonar.”
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The origin of the language wasn’t entirely clear. The Defense Department did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the committee’s chairwoman, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), said the committee doesn’t “discuss the origin of report language.”
“This is report language that requires the Defense Department to submit a report and does not have any effect on ongoing offshore wind development,” said Evan Hollander, a spokesman for the committee.
Wind industry officials said they suspected that Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) was the provision’s author. Harris, a member of the Appropriations Committee, represents Maryland’s Eastern Shore and has emerged as an outspoken opponent of offshore wind development in recent years.
In a statement, the congressman did not claim responsibility for the provision but said, “I agree with the Committee Report language — we need to be absolutely certain we are not impairing defense capabilities as we consider the advisability of further development of offshore wind in the Mid-Atlantic area. Several reports and studies indicate there may be serious national security concerns.”
A spokesperson for Harris did not respond to follow-up questions.
Supporters of offshore wind expressed surprise at the budget language and promised to fight it.
“All proposed offshore wind developments must already consider any national security implications, and to date, none have been raised as New England begins to build turbines off of our coast that can power homes and employ a new generation of workers,” said Rep. Joe Kennedy III, a Massachusetts Democrat who has championed the industry. “Any effort to delay the permitting process and deployment of offshore wind turbines is deeply troubling and I will work with my colleagues to address those concerns.”
The offshore wind industry has emerged as a central tenet of Northeastern states’ attempt to green their power sectors, meet their climate goals and drive new investments in aging ports in recent years.
