LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Senate pushes ahead with a controversial ban on wind farms in most of eastern NC 

Credit:  By Lynne Bonner | The Charlotte Observer | May 02, 2019 | www.charlotteobserver.com ~~

A controversial ban on new wind turbines in all or part of more than 40 counties, including almost all of Eastern North Carolina, advanced in the state legislature Thursday.

The bill’s main proponent, Republican Sen. Harry Brown of Jacksonville, said the wind turbine ban is needed to protect airspace for military test flights and to keep military installations in the state.

Critics said the bill is unnecessary because the Department of Defense already makes sure that planned wind facilities won’t interfere with military flights.

An 18-month moratorium on new wind turbines in the state, which Brown pushed two years ago, stalled a wind project that a Charlottesville, Va., company called Apex Clean Energy is planning in Chowan County. All of Chowan is in the restricted zone, and a ban could kill the project.

Senate Bill 377 cleared the Senate Commerce and Insurance Committee on a close voice vote. The committee chairman did not ask for an exact tally, and one of the Republican members said later that he did not vote.

Legislators are split over the value of wind energy. Brown, the Senate majority leader, is a force for restricting wind turbines. The state’s military bases are too important to the economy to risk a future federal commission recommending shutting state bases because turbines would be in the way of pilot training, he said.

“Without these bases, I can’t even begin to tell you what it would do to the economy in Eastern North Carolina,” Brown said.

Opponents said a ban is unnecessary because the Department of Defense Siting Clearinghouse and the Federal Aviation Administration already prevent conflicts.

Adam Forrer, a manager for the Southeastern Wind Coalition, said North Carolina would be the only state legislature to pass a wind-energy ban.

An Amazon wind farm in Pasquotank County was built after an evaluation by the military reduced the number of turbines, said Sen. Floyd McKissick, a Durham Democrat. The federal evaluations worked, McKissick said.

“Why do we move forward with a bill like this?” he asked.

Betsy McCorkle, a lobbyist for Apex Clean Energy, said legislators don’t have to choose between the military and wind. They co-exist throughout the country, she said.

“The Department of Defense is reviewing our project turbine by turbine,” she said.

Chowan was looking forward to the wind farm, and the $800,000 in tax revenue it was projected to generate in its first year, The News & Observer has reported.

Some Republican senators said legislators should be concerned about the economic benefits the military bases bring, and what would happen if they closed.

“This is not a fear bill, but everybody in this room needs to be concerned about the second-greatest economic driver in our state,” said Sen. Norm Sanderson, a Pamlico County Republican.

Source:  By Lynne Bonner | The Charlotte Observer | May 02, 2019 | www.charlotteobserver.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon