Republican lawmakers and experts are calling on the Biden administration to put an “immediate moratorium” on offshore wind development until its effects on U.S. military operations, navigation, and radar systems are studied, according to a report.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) told Fox News that during a three-hour long meeting with federal watchdog agency Government Accountability Office (GAO) officials, industry stakeholders, and experts earlier this week, concerns about the projects’ impact on military operations were discussed for more than an hour.
Smith represents a district along the Atlantic coast home to a Naval Weapons Station Earle and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst where wind projects have been proposed.
The GAO recently agreed to investigate the negative impacts of the wind farm projects, after requests from Smith, and fellow Republican Reps. Jeff Van Drew, Bruce Westerman (AR), and Andy Harris (MD), as reported by Breitbart News.
Smith told Fox News that the wind farm projects would impact marine radar though sonic interference.
“It causes disruptions, shadowing,” Smith told Fox News Digital, the latter referring to the inability to see enemy ships off the coast.
“There’s going to be nothing but disruption. Radar will not be credible. So, you’ll have ships of every size and variety — military ships, ocean and cargo ships, including carrying oil coming into my state for refineries — that potentially could run into other ships or into even some of these windmills themselves,” he added.
“The Coast Guard, too, will not be able to do search and rescue, particularly in bad weather, because of the gross interference that will happen,” he told Fox News Digital. “There’s also an impact on the Navy’s … Integrated Undersea Surveillance System, and it will interfere with that.”
Smith told the outlet that anonymous defense officials have told him that wind development is being prioritized over national security.
A Pentagon spokesperson defended the projects to Fox News Digital: “The Department of Defense is committed to protecting American national security interests, which includes reducing reliance on foreign energy sources and expanding domestic offshore wind energy development.”
“The DoD continues to work with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, industry and other stakeholders to identify the best locations for offshore development, as we have done in every call area in the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico,” Flynn said.
According to Fox News Digital, the Navy and Air Force put out a report in early October that characterized four offshore wind lease areas proposed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) as “highly problematic” and two others as “requiring further study.”
However, the Biden administration has pursued an aggressive strategy to develop offshore wind farms across millions of acres of federal waters, mostly along the East Coast.
Fisheries liaison for Rhode Island-based fishing company Seafreeze Meghan Lapp told Fox News Digital, “They’re willing to sacrifice anything for green energy.
“I have seen national security overridden. I’ve seen maritime safety overridden. I’ve seen domestic food production overridden. I’ve seen concerns of coastal businesses and communities overridden,” said Lapp, who was at the meeting with GAO.
“Every single entity and every single concern — valid concerns, not made up, not hyperbole or anything — are just overridden. And the answer is what? ‘Well, we need to do this because of climate change,'” she said.
According to the report, an office in the Pentagon established by Congress in 2011 called the Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse that was meant to oversee green energy projects’ compatibility with military activities has consistently overridden base commanders’ concerns and backed green energy development.
“Now, we have an entire coast that’s going to be weakened by this terrible decision,” Smith told Fox News Digital. “I’ve never been more angry and disappointed in the military’s acquiescence and silence.”
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