A recently released Offshore Wind Energy report by the Government Accountability Office—the independent congressional watchdog agency—gives credibility and vindication to concerns first raised in Congress by Representative Chris Smith that offshore wind turbines pose significant threats to national security and aviation and maritime safety by interfering with radar systems.
Smith said the report provides additional scientific justification to President Trump’s pause on offshore wind which he hopes results in immediate stoppage of offshore wind projects, including Empire Wind 1 off the coast of NJ and NY which Smith called “dangerous and reckless”.
The new GAO report states in one section of the report: “Wind turbines can reduce the performance of radar systems used for defense and maritime navigation and safety in several ways. These include reducing detection sensitivity, obscuring potential targets, and generating false targets, according to a DOE report.
“In addition, offshore wind energy development may affect larger military exercises by obstructing flight and surface and subsurface vessel movement, according to DOD officials.”
GAO explains that wind turbines “are constructed predominantly of steel that has a high electromagnetic reflectivity, according to a 2022 National Academies report. As a result, the turbines and rotating blades can make it hard to see targets on different radar systems, including high-frequency and marine vessel radar.”
Late last month, Rep. Smith asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to review the decision by the Norwegian company Equinor to begin rock laying and moving ahead with Empire Wind 1 despite President Trump’s January 20th executive order stating that assessment is needed to review the many shortcomings of the Federal wind leasing process including, “potential inadequacies in various environmental reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act.”
Two years ago the Congressman authored an amendment that passed the House of Representatives 244 to 189, requiring the GAO to comprehensively investigate the impact of offshore wind turbines off the coast of New Jersey and elsewhere.
During the debate on his amendment Smith said, “If and when the wind turbines go online, vessel navigation—including US Navy ships, merchant ships, fishing boats, and search and rescue operations by the Coast Guard—may be significantly hampered due to radar interference. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a report in 2022 entitled Wind Turbine Generator Impacts to Marine Vessel Radar and found that wind turbine generators “obfuscate the marine vessel radar for both magnetron-based and solid-state radar… and “can cause significant interference and shadowing that suppress the detection of small contacts…”
When the U.S. Senate to failed to adopt the amendment, the New Jersey Republican joined by Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR), Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Andy Harris (R-MD) sent a letter, requesting GAO to undertake the review. Today’s GAO report is the result.
A few months later—on July 19, 2023—Smith authored another policy amendment this time to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization that would have required the President of the United States or his designee to certify in writing that ocean wind projects “will not weaken, degrade, interfere with, or nullify the capability of radar relied upon by the Federal Aviation Administration or the Armed Forces.” The amendment passed the House by a voice vote but was blocked in the Senate.
In the section tiled Offshore Wind Turbines Could Have a Variety of Impacts on Maritime Navigation and Safety, the report expresses safety concerns that offshore wind constructed close to existing shipping lanes may increase the risk of vessels colliding with offshore wind turbines or other vessels. It states that “large shipping vessels may have trouble avoiding turbines in the event of a mechanical failure due to the wide turning radius—a large shipping vessel may need up to 2 nautical miles to properly maneuver.”
Smith said he hopes that the GAO report “will be yet another wake up call to stop this dangerous initiative. The Biden and Murphy Administrations have habitually dismissed and trivialized our very well-founded concerns not just on radar interference and national security but the devastating consequences to marine life, recreation, and commercial fishing.
“The offshore wind industrialization approval process has left unaddressed and unanswered numerous serious questions concerning the potentially harmful environmental impact on marine life and the ecosystems that currently allow all sea creatures great and small including whales to thrive. The GAO report confirms that there are still many, many unaddressed and unanswered questions.”
“Ocean wind energy development is an egregiously flawed and dangerous initiative and must be stopped.”
Wind Turbines Wind Turbines Wind Turbines Wind Turbines Wind Turbines
