There are three major stakeholders in the Industrial Wind Energy Permitting bill: H484: | Eastern North Carolina Now

a) Military, b) Citizens (via DHHS), and c) the Environment (via DENR).

   Stan,

    At this point there aren't adequate safeguards for ANY of these groups. I have formally contacted top level DENR and DHHS people of the serious deficiencies, so it is now up to them to step up. Hopefully they will.

    My focus now is to protect the military installations in NC.

    I'm writing you to ask if you have any good retired-military contacts that are interested in energy and environmental matters in NC, and want to be proactive about protecting our bases.

    (I am already working with key active military, but if you have some high-level connection, let me know. Retired are preferred as they are not constrained by political correctness, or DOD's current politically-driven and misguided support of all things renewable.)

    If so, please forward this message on to them, and let me know who they are so I can add them to my list. There will likely be a meeting of such interested parties in a few days.

To anyone concerned about protecting NC military:
    I have heard that the extremely important H484v2 will be edited shortly. The time is NOW if we want to have any inputs (e.g. military) into this revision (likely the last chance).

    To that end I took all the comments I've made to date about H484, and digested them down to an Executive Summary of the most important ones. (See information published below)

    For retired military (or civilian military supporters), the other key related documents you need to closely look at are:

    1 - Senate Bill 3 (this 2007 bill is the cause of several problems, and is why H484 is necessary),
    (note: almost all the impact will be from industrial wind energy, on coastal communities)

    2 - The 9/12 Seymour-Johnson Report (how industrial wind energy adversely affects their mission),
    (note: a similar situation exists with Cherry Point, and possibly other nearby bases as well)

    3 - H298 (this is a very good and important bill which is trying to fix SB3 from another angle),

    4 - An Economic Assessment of H298 (the information here directly relates to H484),

    5 - An Environmental Assessment of H298 (what's here also directly relates to H484),

    6 - EnergyPresentation.info (an overview of the energy situation).

    We need to have a meeting, ASAP, of those retired military and civilian military supporters who want to protect NC military installations from this specific, and substantial threat.

Executive Summary of NC H484 Fixes Needed

    H484 (Permitting of Wind Energy Facilities) is a very needed bill that attempts to address a significant consequence of Senate Bill 3. It's important to get this right -- i.e. to adequately protect the NC military, NC citizens and the environment.

    The following are the key changes needed for H484v2:

    Page 1, Line 9: "Whereas, North Carolina has abundant wind resources throughout the State;"

    This is a major technical error that sets the stage for other mistakes. According to the official government NC wind map, only a tiny portion of permit-able North Carolina land has suitable wind resources, and it's all on the coast. This sentence should be entirely deleted.

    Multiple Spots: To provide minimum health and safety protection to NC citizens, DHHS must be made a formal part of the permitting process. The specific suggestions for doing this are spelled out here.

    Page 3, Line 36b [new]: "(6) - Any industrial turbine should be located at least 2500 feet from the nearest property line of a non-participating owner. If the applicant agrees to increase this minimum separation to 5000 feet, then all human health conditions herein are waived. Human health conditions herein are also waived for offshore industrial wind facilities."

    Page 4, Lines 46-49: "Documentation that addresses any potential adverse impact on military operations and readiness as identified by the Department of Defense Clearinghouse pursuant to Part 211 of Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations..."

    It is not clear if the applicant is required to get formal DOD approval. If so that would remove any possibility of NC military objections. This needs to be given careful thought so as not to undermine NC military options.

    Page 5, Lines 3-10: which requires three studies. As written these are meaningless. The minimum change needed here is to require the developer to put up the money and DENR decide on the studies needed, and DENR hire the appropriate experts. (This is explained in more detail here.)

    Page 5, Line 13: references "subsection 12 (a) of G.S. 143-215.120."

    Here is the state's official site on GS143, and I don't see any "143-215.120". So is this reference accurate, and appropriate?

    Page 5, Line 25 [new]: "#15 - Certification of compliance with the full SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) process."

    Page 5, Lines 34-36: "...the commanding military officer of any military installation
located outside the State that is located within 50 nautical miles of the location of the
proposed wind energy facility..."

    This is a very weak condition. The distance should be at least 100 miles.

    Page 6, Lines 41 & 42: "and result in a detriment to continued military presence in the State."

    This is an impossibly high standard to meet and should be removed.

    P9, Section 3: Words should be added that all industrial proposed NC wind energy facilities not yet constructed, should meet the health conditions specified herein.

    Additional important issues not addressed by H484: five significant other matters are explained here. Any of those that can be included into H484v3 will
be a benefit to the NC public (and the military!).

    Without these changes being incorporated into H484v3, the NC military is not protected, NC citizens are not protected, and the environment is not protected.

    Let me know any questions. I'd be glad to review proposed updates for technical accuracy.

    Regards,

    John Droz, Jr.
    Physicist & Environmental Advocate