Military's worries tangle plans for offshore wind farm

Gov. Martin O'Malley's desire to build offshore wind turbines as part of Maryland's renewable energy program is running into an unexpected source of resistance: the military.

The fear is that turbines placed in the Atlantic Ocean could disrupt flight and weapon test ranges, as well as erroneously appear on radar as unidentifiable aircraft, which could trigger false alarms in an era of high terrorism alerts, military officials said.

"When you start to place turbines out in the Atlantic Ocean, they will create an artificial image on the radar, and we might not be able to see aircraft because we think the aircraft is really the turbine spinning around out there," said Todd Morgan, president of the Southern Maryland Navy Alliance, a group of civic leaders that works to enhance relations between the Navy and the community.

Representatives of the U.S. Navy command and the state's naval community shared their concerns Nov. 18 in Baltimore with officials of the Maryland Energy Administration, the Department of Business and Economic Development and others.

Attendees said that they hoped a middle ground could be reached.

"I think there's plenty of room and opportunity to have shared usage," said Ross J. Tyler, the state energy administration's director of clean energy. Other states are facing the same challenges on how to balance such interests, he said.

On Nov. 10, O'Malley (D) joined with the Democratic governors of Virginia and Delaware to launch a collaborative effort in harnessing vast offshore wind resources in the mid-Atlantic region. Officials also have touted the potential to create thousands of jobs.

The development of offshore wind farms is critical to meeting O'Malley's standard of producing 20 percent of the state's energy through alternative sources by 2022.

Three major military installations -- Patuxent River Naval Air Station in St. Mary's County, Wallops Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore and Oceana Naval Air Station in the Hampton Roads region -- regularly use the airspace off the Atlantic coast for training missions and flight testing, Morgan said.

At the meeting, both parties indicated a desire to not sacrifice one side's interests for the other.

"Our first and foremost mission is to keep the base going and keep it vibrant," Morgan said. "Anything that gets in the way, we're going to be there and not jump on something just because it's a green initiative."

Although renewable energy is a worthwhile initiative that could save money in the long term, it is not worth risking billions of dollars in economic investment that the Navy spends in Maryland each year at Patuxent and elsewhere, Morgan said.