Dive Brief:
- A bill to delay wind farm construction within 56 miles of a military base on the Maryland coast is headed to the state Senate floor after passage by a committee this week. The measure, which has already passed the House of Delegates, would put off construction until completion of a study of ways to remedy turbines’ effect on military radar.
- The immediate concern is a planned 25-turbine facility not far from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, a major economic force in its part of the state. Developer Pioneer Green has an agreement with the Navy that it says addresses the radar issue, and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley wants the project to go ahead. But in an unusual move, fellow Democrat Rep. Steny Hoyer, a top leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, appeared in Annapolis to strongly oppose O’Malley’s position.
- Any interference with Patuxent’s radar would jeopardize the base’s military purposes and possibly cause the base to relocate, Hoyer and others say, but others call such a scenario far-fetched. Pioneer Green says a 15-month delay for the study would kill its $200 million project.
Dive Insight:
O’Malley and some lawmakers see the legislation, essentially a moratorium on wind development in the Patuxent zone, as overkill. And O'Malley is eager for Maryland to reach its target of 20% renewable power supply by 2022; as of 2012 it was only at about 8%. The governor has not said he will veto the bill, but has suggested allowing it to pass with a provision that a project that has a signed agreement with the Navy can proceed.
Interestingly, Hoyer said his appearance in the legislature to fight for the bill was his first since leaving the statehouse for Congress in the 1970s. It’s especially interesting because Annapolis is little more than a half-hour from Washington.
