February 29, 2020
Indiana

Wind development representatives address concerns over doppler radar interference in Gibson County

By Raven Ford | WEHT | Feb 28, 2020 | www.tristatehomepage.com

Gibson County held its third public hearing this afternoon on possible county wide zoning.

A proposal to install wind turbines have pushed the latest call for zoning in the area.

One of the concerns is the turbine’s potential impact on doppler radar.

RWE representatives spent much of today’s meeting addressing that concern.

“We’re currently working with the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration with potential submitting documentation regarding our layouts to address these concerns,” says RWE Wind Development Manager Karson Rumpf.

Rumpf says the project is expected to bring in 59 million dollars to the county.

This could benefit tax revenue for the county, for new roads, and better teacher salaries.

“It’s scary to think that profit can drive decisions. Instead of safety being the number one priority.”

Sarah Newton, a resident in Posey County, has been doing research on the project for a year.

She says despite the claims of RWE on there being no impact to the doppler radar, her findings show otherwise.

“We’re talking about corruption on the elevation scans that are the most critical in detecting severe weather and tornadoes. We’ll lose that ability. We’ll lose that advance warning for people who need it the most you know the people who need the extra time the kid In the schools, patients in hospitals,” says Newton.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/02/29/wind-development-representatives-address-concerns-over-doppler-radar-interference-in-gibson-county/