The Defense Department is sounding alarm bells over the Biden Administration's plans to advance offshore wind projects along the central Atlantic coast. DoD is warning that almost all of the new terrain eyed for development conflicts with military operations. Maps shared this month with industry stakeholders show vast red areas that the Navy and Air Force have deemed “highly problematic,” covering prime real estate the Department of Interior had earmarked for leasing off the coasts of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. DoD's concerns, on top of other conflicts identified by the Coast Guard, have unnerve renewable power developers and East Coast states counting on mid-Atlantic wind farms to meet clean energy and climate goals. The Pentagon’s opposition could imperil President Biden’s bid to install 30gw of wind power by the end of the decade. The clash represents the latest threat to the fledgling industry - supply chain challenges, inflation-stoked prices and opposition from coastal communities. A senior DoD official stressed that the maps represent a start for discussions with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and that the Pentagon is committed to finding ways to accommodate leasing. DoD identified challenges operating around wind turbines in Atlantic waters near its operations and facilities, including the Dare County, NC, bombing range, used for training fighter jet crews, and a weapons station in Yorktown, Va. They are documented on the map of Navy and AF concerns dated from Oct. 6, 2022, and circulated with industry and state stakeholders this month. (Bloomberg 04/17/23) Pentagon Sounds Alarm Over Biden Plan for Offshore Wind Sites (yahoo.com)
Four of six potential wind lease areas outlined by the ocean energy bureau last November are completely shaded red, including two deep-water parcels that might require floating turbines. The remaining two tracts, in yellow, are identified as requiring further study. The areas deemed highest priority by the Pentagon span a large portion of potential lease areas off the Maryland and North Carolina coasts.
The Defense Department official said the representations were designed to pinpoint areas that present the most challenges — generally where the Pentagon would be unable to continue its mission as currently conducted in the space. The focus going forward is on finding ways to accommodate wind development, including by adjusting operations to allow the activity, the official said. That could take the form of shifting the location of military exercises and other steps — such as optimizing radar processing systems — to minimize interference from turbines.
The two tracts marked in yellow are the least problematic, with concerns the Pentagon views as solvable, the Defense Department official said.
Similar Defense Department concerns helped derail plans for offshore oil leasing in waters near Virginia’s coast roughly a decade ago. And after the Pentagon warned the Interior Department against offshore wind leasing near the California coast in 2019, it took roughly three years to resolve the matter. The Interior Department had been on track to sell new offshore wind rights in the mid-Atlantic early next year — and significant delays could make it harder for developers to claim newly expanded tax credits for the multibillion-dollar ventures that can take years to permit and build.
The ocean energy bureau expressed confidence it could resolve the dispute. The agency “has a long working relationship” with the Defense Department “and together we have successfully deconflicted and identified areas that have resulted in 27 leases along the Atlantic coast, covering over 2.1 million acres,” it said in its statement. “We will continue this collaboration as we seek to identify new lease areas in the central Atlantic.”
When asked for comment, JC Sandberg, the American Clean Power Association’s chief advocacy officer, said that the industry is “fully committed to national security” and coexisting with other ocean users.
“Leasing in the central Atlantic is critical to growing the offshore wind industry to meet state and federal clean energy goals,” and to sustaining supply chain investments in the region, Sandberg said. “The Department of Defense staff’s maps serve as a stark reminder that there’s work to do. We need a coordinated, all-of-government approach to offshore wind to ensure that the industry can grow while protecting national security interests at the same time.”
The maps have inspired a frenzy of calls and meetings as alarmed offshore wind advocates ask top administration officials to referee the dispute and broker a compromise.
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