Navy erred in wind farm decision
Corpus Christi Caller-Times, www.caller.com 27 April 2012
I found it quite interesting that our Navy has signed an agreement with a wind developer proposing to build a wind farm in proximity to the Kingsville Naval Air Station.
The proposed wind farm had significant resistance from the Navy over the last year, but recently the Navy has “stood down” as nationally our current administration has issued the call for the Navy to be “greener.”
The initial Navy resistance was based on the fact that wind farms cause radar interference; failure of the radar could cause safety issues; and ultimately, a poor radar solution would cause intrusion on the base’s mission – training the best fighter pilots to protect our nation. The agreement calls for a “new unproven technology” that essentially “dumbs down” the high tech radar system. Now that makes sense.
Wind energy is unregulated and there is little opportunity for public input. This is quite different from other conventional forms of generation.
Because of this lack of process, most wind developers work in the dark and begin their construction when it’s too late for the public to make its sentiments known.
I believe that the Navy has erred in its decision to enter into this agreement that endorses an unproven technology and unproven wind developer.
This opportunist wind developer has not built a single wind farm and is well intentioned on “developing” this wind farm for flipping or a quick sale. The Peñascal wind farm in Kenedy County has already sold from Scottish Power to Iberdrola (one foreign company to another).
Our tax dollars working at its best by lining the pockets of opportunists. What a shame that we put our national defense behind this wasteful spending on an unproven green energy.
Wind turbine energy has been around for 20 years and in the words of our distinguished Nobel Prize-winning Secretary of Energy a “mature technology.”
If it’s so mature, why does it need the billions of dollars of subsidies made up of our hard earned and paid taxes? And why did our Navy make such a poor and potentially devastating decision for Kleberg and Nueces counties?
John M. Saenz, South Texans for Sensible Wind Farm Siting
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/04/27/navy-erred-in-wind-farm-decision/