Ill Winds Blowing
Wind farms are a source of alternative energy, but some have been caught in a Washington storm
Approving wind farms is ultimately up to the FAA, which regulates the country's airspace, but the FAA seeks the Pentagon's input in making its decisions. Even so, FAA spokesperson Laura Brown denies that the study is responsible for the chill that has settled over the wind industry; she attributes the delay instead to a dramatic increase in wind-farm applications. But the letters received from the FAA by Polsky and some of the other applicants seem to cast doubt on that claim; those letters say wind farms within a radar's line of sight should be delayed until the study is finished.
Supposed to be completed in May, the study is still ongoing. Last week, Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama promised to block a nominee to a top FAA post until the report is completed. "The FAA and the Defense Department need to get it together," says Durbin, who admits he's suspicious of the motives behind the study.
Some affected projects are now moving forward, but exasperated developers say the bottom line is simple. As a practical matter, they cannot proceed until they know the results of the Defense Department study, which could recommend that parts of the country, including offshore sites, be restricted for the sake of national security. "You can call it politics ... or you can call it guilty by association," Polsky says. "What's bothering us is that we don't have a resolution." Call it Washington wind power.
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