Warner Finally Succeeds With Turbine-Effect Study

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, got his wish this year, when he tacked an amendment onto the 2006 defense authorization bill calling for study of the effects of wind turbines on military radar installations. Warner cited a British Ministry of Defence policy that prohibits the construction of wind turbines within 80 kilometers of military radar stations. There is a wind-farm project planned for near Cape Cod’s Otis ANGB, Mass., where the Air Force’s PAVE PAWS radar installation is located. So far, both the FAA and the Air Force have said that such a project within 20 miles of Otis would not interfere with the operation. That was not good enough for Warner. Critics tell the Cape Cod Times that Warner based his position on outdated info—the British now feel the use of new software protects radar facilities.