Letter: Wind sites, nuke plant too close

To the Editor:

With the threat of terrorism in America today, we must educate and protect ourselves from possible threat.

The proposed wind farm in Goodhue County is a very real concern. It is estimated 100,000 people would die if Prairie Island nuclear plant was attacked successfully via air.

In the United States there are about 100 nuclear power plants. To my knowledge, no 410-foot industrial wind turbines are placed as close to a nuclear plant as those proposed by National Wind.

Government documents say there will be radar interference with wind farms. This is better known as radar clutter.

Military fighter pilots use radar to locate and destroy. How will they be able to protect us if they have clutter on their screens?

The Midwest Regional Office of the FAA sent “notice of presumed hazard” letters to wind farm sites that they had determined are in the line of site. FAA defines line of site as “any windmill within a 60-mile radius of a radar center or radar tower.”

Not only will the military not be able to defend us, our people on the ground will not realize they are under attack.

We are told this project is needed because of a mandate. Mandates are made by man, not God.

In Europe, 72 kilometers or 45 miles is used as a setback for 410-foot industrial wind turbines from a nuclear plant. Some National Wind turbines would be within 10-15 miles of the nuclear plant.

There are plenty of windy areas not so close to a major terrorist goal. Our own government agency (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) acknowledges this is a potential security-related issue, and we could be vulnerable.

I ask those charged with keeping us safe to research this concern, ask the developers complete all forms the FAA requires, provide stealthy material blades for the turbines, and provide advance digital tracker programs for our radar stations. Transponders or similar devices should be required on all turbines.

The military needs 40-plus miles of clutter-free air space around a nuclear plant to adequately protect us. Let’s give it to them.

Bill O’Reilly

Belle Creek

Tags: wind development, prairie island nuclear plant, goodhue county, opinion, letter, goodhue