Pentagon sued for blocking new wind power plants - Yahoo! News

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - The
Sierra Club' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Sierra Club filed a federal lawsuit in San Francisco charging the US
Department of Defense' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Department of Defense (DOD) with blocking the construction of wind power plants.
The environmental group accused the
Pentagon' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Pentagon of essentially creating a nationwide moratorium on new wind farms by barring their construction within the line of sight of military radar.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the DOD failed to complete a congressionally-mandated study to determine whether windmills actually interfered with radar, the suit maintained.
"While the Defense Department drags its feet studying if wind farms are a threat to national security, Americans are missing out on cleaner, cheaper energy," said Sierra Club attorney Kristin Henry
"If the military can have windmills and effective radar at Guantanamo, why can't we have both in the Midwest?"
The suit filed in US District Court sought to "compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed."
Sierra club attorneys contended it was ironic that it took a federal court decision recently to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to factor potentials for terrorism into environmental reviews of nuclear power plants.
"The same administration that didn't want to consider terrorism when building nuclear plants is saying that windmills may be a threat to national security," said Henry.
Aspiring windmill builders must get
Federal Aviation Administration' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) clearance stating the installations would not be hazardous to air traffic.
The DOD restriction on windmills has caused the FAA to brand them "presumptive hazards" until more is known about potential interference, according to the Sierra Club.
"Paralyzing wind energy development could not have come at a worse time,"
said Sierra Club attorney David Bookbinder.
"The Department of Defense has provided no indication of when it intends to complete the required study, even though the deadline has already passed."