DENNIS MCGINN: This Navy test pilot says Sen. Brown's wind energy ban bill is misguided

I served in the U.S. Navy for 35 years as an aviator, test pilot, aircraft carrier commanding officer and commander of the U.S. 3rd Fleet, retiring at the rank of vice admiral. I later served as assistant Secretary of the Navy, responsible for all Navy and Marine Corps installations around the world.

The bill’s title actually is a misnomer. It has little to do with protecting military bases. Rather, the legislation really is just a ban on wind energy development along North Carolina’s coast. And while it is important that all development (not just wind development) be compatible with critical military missions, this bill is unnecessary.

The bill bans most wind energy projects generally within 100 miles of the coastline and unwisely substitutes a generic “one size fits all” approach for a Department of Defense process, that has been in place for years, to evaluate all proposed wind projects, turbine by turbine. I was involved in that review process as assistant secretary of the Navy and I can attest to its rigor. Further, the process was recently strengthened by changes signed into law by President Donald Trump.

The fact is that the military already has the power to stop a project. Federal law explicitly states that, if mission impacts cannot be mitigated, the military has the authority to object to a project that creates an unacceptable risk to national security -- including interfering with the military’s use of airspace or significantly impairing or degrading ability to conduct training.

The legislation ignores that and goes against the Defense Department’s own counsel that, due to the wide variety of missions and the variability of impacts, “it is not possible to apply a ‘one-size-fits-all’ standoff distance between DoD military readiness activities and [wind] development projects.”

In other words, generic maps and sweeping assumptions are not appropriate. The most effective way to identify and mitigate potential impacts of development on military operations is to conduct site-specific evaluations that incorporate each project’s individual circumstances.

I’ve invested my life’s work into protecting our country. Assuring the safety of the men and women who so bravely share in that mission is my highest priority. I am confident, based on my 35 years of experience in the Navy and my deep insight into Defense Department’s review process, that all necessary measures are already in place to ensure that wind turbines – and any other structures or developments – will not impede national security.

Our nation’s military indeed needs our attention. Let’s not use precious time and resources trying to solve a problem that simply does not exist.