Cape & Islands News

Dept. of Defense gives Cape Wind "thumbs up" - no impact on radar at Pave Paws

The long-awaited, somewhat mysterious, Pave Paws radar report issued
Congressman Delahunt's recent flip-flop on a wind farm at MMR explained

By Walter Brooks

For several years US Congressman William Delahunt has been urging the United States Department of Defense to  conduct a detailed study on whether the Cape Wind project 2 would interfere with the massive radar facility on the Upper Cape called Pave Paws 1.

Two week's ago Congressman Delahunt  changed his mind about whether the Massachusetts Military Reservation where the Pave Paws is located was a good place for a wind farm.

A week ago a story ran here partially explaining the congressman's change of heart and urging yet another wind farm be built in the MMR. 

This newspaper has been informed off the record that government sponsors of studies are often given advance notice of the result, especially when as in this case the results are 180 degrees away from what the sponsor thought.

Both Mr. Delahunt and his anti-wind farm allies at the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound  have urged for the study for several years, and they were both prepared to react - the congressman with a positive response and the Alliance with its by now typical negative response to any good news about Cape Wind.

Radar beam is 1/2 mile above turbines

"The analysis shows that the Cape Wind project is far enough away from the radar that there is no issue with the main radar beam or the near-field area," Rick LehnerDOD, a Missile Defense Agency spokesman.

The turbines ware 440 feet high. Page 6 of the attached DOD report states that the turbines would have to be almost 7 times that tall to touch the bottom of the Pave Paws radar beam which begins at 3,000 feet above sea level.

In other words, there the nearest the radar beam gets is over a half mile above the highest point any turbine blades will rise.

 "The analysis shows that the Cape Wind project is far enough away from the radar that there is no issue with the main radar beam or the near-field area,"
-Rick Lehner, DODThe congressman appears to be so satisfied that he has proposed two additional wind farms, one in the middle of the Mass. Military reservation itself.

Alliance cries "wolf" 

Despite the fact that this DOD 9 page report clearly finds that Cape Wind will not impact the Pave Paws early warning radar system, the local privately funded anti-wind farm group claims the report proves the opposite.

Setting himself up as a defense expert (his military service included a stint in the National Guard protecting the Pentagon against Peace Marchers back in the 1960's). Charles Vinick of the APNS said yesterday that the proximity of the Cape Wind project to the edge of the buffer zone is "too close for comfort."

On the other hand... 

Cape Wind Communications Director Mark Rodgers issued this statement late Friday;

Today’s Department of Defense (DOD) report is good news for Cape Wind.  The report clearly finds Cape Wind to be outside of the wind turbine offset zone being proposed for PAVE PAWS radar systems. 

Now the DOD has reached the same determination as the US Air Force – that Cape Wind will not negatively impact the Air Force PAVE PAWS radar system.  This report puts to rest in a final form any reasonable concern about this issue. 

Unfortunately, the organization that formed to oppose Cape Wind - the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound (also called Save Our Sound) - is yet again resorting to fear-mongering to twist the findings of this report to suit their narrow agenda.

The reality is that projects like Cape Wind strengthen national security by making America more energy independent and less reliant on foreign sources of energy

Any concerns about the base "have been mitigated" - Mark ForestThe Cape Cod Times reported today that Delahunt, who called for the study agreed with project opponents yesterday. "Clearly there has to be further studies because there cannot be a margin of error. We know that radar interference is a real issue."

Perhaps the congressman ahs forgotten his statements of the last two weeks urging a wind farm within a f ew miles of Pave Paws.  The story this past Tuesday reported Delahunt spokesman Mark Forest saying any concerns about the base "have been mitigated."

Nantucket Sound "YES", Massachusetts Military Reservation "NO" 

A statement released by Clean Power Now said in part;

For wind turbines that lie within the 25 km offset zone further study would be required to assess the impact of short range returns which may be mitigated by using conventional gain control and range gating techniques. This would be the case for proposed wind turbines on the Massachusetts Military Reservation as suggested in a recent letter from Congressman William Delahunt to military officials for reducing energy costs and sustaining the base. Mr. Delahunt has said “There is no other department in the federal government that understands the national security implication associated with our dependence on foreign oil. That is why moving the [MMR] toward energy independence without compromising military operations makes a great deal of sense.”

Barbara Hill of CPN said, “The enormous benefits of energy independence, sustainability, and avoidance of greenhouse gas from the Cape Wind project are now ready to be realized as the potential for radar interference has been effectively removed.”

The DOD report concludes with this summery;

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The discussion above supports the following recommendations and conclusions
applicable to placement of wind farms in the vicinity of Cape Cod AFS and Beale AFB.

• Utility class wind farms could have a significant impact on radars, including the
  missile defense early warning radars (EWRs), the PAVE PAWS radar at Cape Cod
  AFS, MA, and the Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR) at Beale AFB, CA.
• To mitigate this impact, establish and enforce a wind farm offset zone within the
  effective “line-of-sight” of the radars, taking into account the direct, refracted, and
  diffracted signals from the radar. This effectively establishes a zone around the radar of approximately twenty-five kilometers, assuming relatively level terrain. (Cape wind's nearest proposed turbine is 27.3 kilometers distant.)
• Within twenty-five kilometers, further study would be required to assess the impact accounting for location within the radar’s field of view and the relative height of the wind turbine and the radar's main beam.
• After establishing this offset zone, eliminate any remaining impacts on the radar by
  using gain control and range gating techniques.

Click here to view the 9 page report in PDF form.
_________________________

The Alliance throws up another manic smokescreen
Manages to twist results of reports they urged

Below in full is the release the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound/Nantucket Soundkeepers sent to media today after the DOD report above was circulated.  Their worse claims appears to be that Nantucket Sound "borders" Cape Cod. Most readers already knew that;

<sup>For Immediate Release                                                                          
Contact:   Jim Power  Tel:  508-775-9767 / 508-367-8058
 
U.S. Department of Defense Report
Confirms Wind Turbine Threat to Missile Defense

Proposed Cape Wind Project
Would Border 25 km"Offset" Zone

(Hyannis, Massachusetts) - June 15, 2007 -  The report issued today by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) confirms the very real risks to our national security posed by wind turbines interfering with missile defense systems, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound said in a statement released today.</sup>

Final results of the DOD study removes any doubt that such a threat exists<sup>The DOD report states "Utility class wind farms could have significant impacts on radars, including the missile defense early warning radars."  PAVE PAWS at Cape Cod Air Force Base and Beale Air Force Base are the only two such early warning defense systems in the continental US.   Early warning radars like PAVE PAWS, near the site selected by Cape Wind for their proposed complex of 130 turbines, are necessary to detect and track threatening objects like Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles and objects in space, and are critical to national security.

Cape Wind has consistently downplayed the significance of the threat of its turbines to missile defense and earlier had called Congressman William Delahunt's request for a study on radar interference "desperate" and "suspect."  Delahunt's insistence that the Department of Defense fully assess that threat was clearly justified by the final results of the DOD study which removes any doubt that such a threat exists.</sup>

PAVE PAWS, is simply too close for comfort^{This completed study calls for the establishment of offset zones around the two missile defense radar systems.  The report recommends a zone of approximately 25 km around the radar, which places the boundary right at the edge of Cape Wind's proposed site in Nantucket Sound and leaves no margin for error. "Given the national security implications of Cape Wind's location right up against DOD's proposed offset zone, siting a project like Cape Wind on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, just 27.3 km from PAVE PAWS, is simply too close for comfort. Why take chances on national security when we can eliminate the risk by siting this project elsewhere?" said Alliance President and CEO Charles Vinick.}

"Whatever energy benefits this project may provide are far outweighed by the conflicts it imposes on the public's safety"
- Charles Vinick<sup>The latest DOD findings, combined with the known potential for radar interference for marine vessel navigation and aviation, clearly indicate a siting conflict with Cape Wind's preferred location in Nantucket Sound. Radar interference issues that have been raised by the regional airports and ferry operators are being reviewed by both the US Coast Guard (USCG) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Even Cape Wind's own final environmental impact report for the state confirmed the issue of radar interference for vessel navigation.          

"Whatever energy benefits this project may provide are far outweighed by the conflicts it imposes on the public's safety," said Vinick. "Radar interference is no longer a theory, but a demonstrated threat confirmed by DOD that Cape Wind must acknowledge.  It is now time for Cape Wind to find a more suitable site for this project." 
#  #  #
Jim Power
Director of Communications
Save Our Sound
Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound
Tel: 508.775.9767
jpower@saveoursound.org</sup>