U.S. Department of Defense Report Confirms Wind Turbine Threat to Missile Defense

Proposed Cape Wind Project

Would Border 25 km“Offset” Zone

            ( Hyannis , Massachusetts ) – June 15, 2007 –  The report issued today by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) confirms the very real risks to our national security posed by wind turbines interfering with missile defense systems, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound said in a statement released today.

The DOD report states “Utility class wind farms could have significant impacts on radars, including the missile defense early warning radars.”  PAVE PAWS at Cape Cod Air Force Base and Beale Air Force Base are the only two such early warning defense systems in the continental US.   Early warning radars like PAVE PAWS, near the site selected by Cape Wind for their proposed complex of 130 turbines, are necessary to detect and track threatening objects like Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles and objects in space, and are critical to national security.

            Cape Wind has consistently downplayed the significance of the threat of its turbines to missile defense and earlier had called Congressman William Delahunt’s request for a study on radar interference "desperate" and "suspect."  Delahunt’s insistence that the Department of Defense fully assess that threat was clearly justified by the final results of the DOD study which removes any doubt that such a threat exists.

            This completed study calls for the establishment of offset zones around the two missile defense radar systems.  The report recommends a zone of approximately 25 km around the radar, which places the boundary right at the edge of Cape Wind ’s proposed site in Nantucket Sound and leaves no margin for error. “Given the national security implications of Cape Wind’s location right up against DOD’s proposed offset zone, siting a project like Cape Wind on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, just 27.3 km from PAVE PAWS, is simply too close for comfort. Why take chances on national security when we can eliminate the risk by siting this project elsewhere?” said Alliance President and CEO Charles Vinick.

            The latest DOD findings, combined with the known potential for radar interference for marine vessel navigation and aviation, clearly indicate a siting conflict with Cape Wind ’s preferred location in Nantucket Sound. Radar interference issues that have been raised by the regional airports and ferry operators are being reviewed by both the US Coast Guard (USCG) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Even Cape Wind ’s own final environmental impact report for the state confirmed the issue of radar interference for vessel navigation.

“Whatever energy benefits this project may provide are far outweighed by the conflicts it imposes on the public’s safety,” said Vinick. “Radar interference is no longer a theory, but a demonstrated threat confirmed by DOD that Cape Wind must acknowledge.  It is now time for Cape Wind to find a more suitable site for this project.”