FAA bans new wind towers

Aviation agency says wind farms interfere with Fossil radar

A potentially "catastrophic" federal moratorium on new wind farm construction is putting large planned projects in Wasco, Gilliam, Sherman and Morrow counties in Oregon and Klickitat County in Washington in jeopardy.

"In the short term, for the companies who have been stopped, I'm very concerned," said Paul Woodin, executive director of The Dalles-based Community Renewable Energy Association. "For the long term, I've got to believe that rational thinking will take over."

According to Woodin, the Federal Aviation Administration believes that existing wind projects in the Mid-Columbia region are starting to cause scatter problems at a military radar site in Fossil. If any more projects are developed, the interference would be unacceptable, the FAA claims, Woodin said.

Federal and state legislators are already working to resolve the issue, he said.

"It could be catastrophic if it's not taken care of," Woodin said. At stake, he noted in a letter to members of his association, is "$2.5 billion to $3 billion of planned development, property taxes, landowner leases, jobs and economic benefit for the Mid-Columbia region," he said.

Wasco County alone stands to lose millions in potential tax revenue if a planned 200 megawatt wind farm, Summit Ridge, northeast of Dufur along the Wasco-Sherman county line, is not built in two years as planned, said Wasco County Commissioner Chairman Dan Ericksen.

"It would be a huge impact to the county," Ericksen said. "The first $25 million investment in Summit Ridge is scheduled to go directly into our tax rolls."

Summit Ridge would be Wasco County's first large wind energy project.
"We're just continuing with normal activities and paying close attention," said Steve Ostrowski, president of Vancouver, Wash.-based LotusWorks, Summit Ridge developers.

He said his company did some initial investigation after the moratorium was issued a few weeks ago, but that it was still not clear whether Summit Ridge would be affected.

"Until we actually do the micrositing of the turbines, we won't know for sure," he said.

Other counties would be hit even harder - and sooner - by the loss of two larger projects, both due to start construction in the next few months: Shepherd Flats, an 854-megawatt wind farm in Gilliam and Morrow counties; and a 700-megawatt project by the Iberdrola firm in Gilliam and Klickitat counties.

Both of those are in or near the FAA's affected zone around Fossil, an area created after an analysis done in April 2009 by the U.S. Air Force.

Woodin, wind power developers and county government leaders are contacting the FAA to begin talks on the issue. Some fixes may be available for the Fossil radar site, which was developed in the 1950s, Woodin said.

"Relocation of the radar, upgrade to hardware and/or software, or decommissioning the obsolete site have been discussed," he said.