NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9053A
SPONSOR: Jenne TITLE OF BILL: An act to restrict the location of certain wind elec-
tric generation facilities around Fort Drum; and providing for the
repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
PURPOSE:
This legislation will ensure the radar viewshed surrounding Fort Drum,
the preeminent military installation in the Northeast, is protected from
wind energy developments that obstruct the mission readiness of the
installation.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one prohibits state funding for the construction or operation of
a wind electric generation facility to be located within certain areas
surrounding Fort Drum.
Section two provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Fort Drum, home of the United States Army's 10th Mountain Division, is
the preeminent military installation in the Northeast, providing unpar-
alleled training opportunities and community engagement. Located in the
North Country, just north of Watertown, the installation includes troop
quarters, the Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield, and the 78,000 acre training
area utilized by the US Army, US Air Force, and National Guard. Taking
advantage of its relatively remote location, troops stationed at Fort
Drum have access to a wide variety of terrains, including urban combat
simulations, vehicle maneuver training, live and simulated weapons
firing, aerial gunnery and bombing, and team situational training exer-
cises in a four season climate. This terrain and the community support
enjoyed by the installation has enabled the 10th Mountain Division to be
extremely successful abroad as the most deployed division since the
attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Maintaining the
long-term viability of Fort Drum is crucial to our national security.
Fort Drum, located in the mostly rural north country, is the largest
single-site employer in New York State, and hosts tens of thousands of
other military personnel throughout the year for some of the best train-
ing opportunities in the country. According to the recent Fort Drum
Joint Land Use Study Draft from the Development Authority of the North
Country:
"Fort Drum contributes positively to the surrounding region's economy
both directly through employment, and indirectly through employee
purchases at local businesses. In 2016, Fort Drum supported over 72,000
people, including military personnel and their families, retirees, and
civilians, and generated a direct economic impact of nearly $1.2
billion, with an additional $387 million of indirect impact to the North
Country. In lieu of direct jobs and traditional economic output data,
the intensity of usage at the installation helps to characterize the
economic potential of Fort Drum on the local economies. In 2016, 23,500
National Guard and Reserve personnel, as well as federal, state, and
local agencies were reported to have used Fort Drum for training."
As part of the installation's mission readiness, radar is relied upon to
predict weather patterns and provide real time conditions, direct
flights, and simulate air-to-air combat scenarios which reflect increas-
ingly possible missions in a multi-polar global environment. Maintain-
ing the integrity of the installation's radar assets is of critical
importance and this legislation would help ensure large scale wind ener-
gy developments do not unnecessarily curtail this training operations
capability. With two currently operational wind energy developments
inside the installation's radar viewshed, including from a radar tower
at the Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield and the doppler radar tower in
Montague, and eight permitted or proposed developments in progress, it
is clear that current siting regulations and processes at the state and
federal level are not providing a sufficient buffer around the installa-
tion and radar facilities.
The impact of several proposed wind projects will significantly degrade
the data from the doppler radar facility. The unique weather patterns
generated from Lake Ontario, in addition to larger weather patterns,
impacts the safe use of aircraft, which trains at Ft. Drum because of
its live fire capabilities and large maneuver space. With incomplete
weather information that can hamper training activity, and the invest-
ments of time and resources required to coordinate multi unit exercises,
Ft. Drum could devolve from the only dependable facility of its type
this side of the Mississippi River to a logistical gamble. This is not
something we need in an era of intensifying global military threats.
Full realization of the proposed wind projects would cripple one of the
installations most important strategic capabilities.
To quote from the DANC study again, "Growth in the wind energy develop-
ment industry in the region could cause vertical obstructions in low
level military training routes. Several currently proposed industrial
wind energy developments are in low level flight training routes."
Indeed, according to briefings from Fort Drum, the massive wind turbines
proposed for many of the wind energy developments in the North Country
effectively create radar "black holes" that cannot be accessed with
current technology.
As referenced in an article in the Watertown Daily Times,
"The turbines at the Maple Ridge wind farm could be seen in blue dots on
radar screens, flickering as the turbine blades turned. Each of the
moving turbines displayed similarly to a moving airplane, creating some
stress as the radar system tracks all aircraft within its viewing range
of 160 miles. If overloaded, the system may drop legitimate aircraft to
follow the turbine movements.
"The system is still processing them as targets, and getting close to
saturation," said Derek R. Kallen, air traffic control manager. "It gets
cluttered pretty quick."
Mr. Kallen said their software can block activity in the area of the
turbines, but it also has the negative effect of creating "a black hole"
for air traffic near the turbines.
"It's not a big issue now, but when you have three to four more projects
down there, it becomes a much bigger problem," Mr. Kallen said, pointing
to the screen. "This all disappears."
(Watertown Daily Times, July 29, 2017, Fort Drum officials talk wind
turbine challenges, plans to work with developers)
Finally, as Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said in October, "There's two sepa-
rate topics: Wind power, renewables, I support. Wind power that would
affect Fort Drum is a totally different issue. Fort Drum is a very
important economic engine, and we wouldn't want to do anything to dilute
that." (Watertown Daily Times, October 5, 2017, Cuomo on Fort Drum, wind
turbine issue: 'I see the potential danger').
For these reasons this legislation would prohibit state investment in
wind energy developments within a specified radius of the installation's
radar assets, and around its airspace and training area in order to
ensure future mission readiness. With a sunset 15 years out, the legis-
lation would enable the military to count on the installation's viabil-
ity to provide well trained soldiers that can be rapidly deployed as
national security needs dictate and provides time for technological
leaps and investments that could allow for co-location in the future.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and be considered repealed 15
years after it becomes law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9053--A
IN ASSEMBLY
January 18, 2018
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JENNE, BLAKE, ORTIZ, WILLIAMS, HUNTER, PELLEGRI-
NO, WALLACE, ENGLEBRIGHT, SIMOTAS, CRESPO -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Energy -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to restrict the location of certain wind electric generation
facilities around Fort Drum; and providing for the repeal of such
provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds that Fort
2 Drum is a premiere training installation, unlike any other military
3 installation in New York State or anywhere east of the Mississippi. It
4 is the only instrumented joint air to ground range north of Florida in
5 the eastern United States able to execute live bomb training, and only
6 one of two Army installations capable of cold weather, winter training
7 in the country. The singular weather and unique terrain makes Fort Drum
8 a peerless training installation.
9 Furthermore, the legislature finds that the moving blades of wind
10 turbines already operating within the immediate proximity of Fort Drum
11 have created interference with air traffic control and Doppler weather
12 radars. Currently, existing turbines have created a 41 square mile blind
13 spot in the 60 mile view shed of Forth Drum's air traffic control radar
14 and corrupted the data of a significant portion of the Doppler weather
15 radar view shed. Therefore, the impact of any additional wind projects
16 in close proximity to Fort Drum would significantly degrade the data
17 from such radars. Due to the unique nature of the terrain around Fort
18 Drum and the extensive interference with the radars' view sheds and
19 because the impacts on radar are increased with height, number and
20 density of turbines, a specific state-imposed remedy for these problems
21 is needed. Accordingly, this act would eliminate any state incentives
22 for the development of wind turbines within the area that could inter-
23 fere with Fort Drum's radar systems while maintaining the incentives for
24 the development of wind generated energy outside of the Fort Drum radar
25 area.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13862-08-8
A. 9053--A 2
1 § 2. Definitions. 1. For the purposes of this act, the "Fort Drum
2 radar zone" shall be the area within:
3 (a) ten miles of the Wheeler-Sack Army airfield;
4 (b) fifteen miles of the Montague Doppler Weather Radar KTYX in the
5 town of Lowville in Lewis county, excluding area within such fifteen
6 mile radius east of a line traveling due north and due south from the
7 intersection of county road twenty-seven and county road twenty-eight in
8 the town of Lowville in Lewis county;
9 (c) five miles of the boundary of the Wheeler-Sack Army airfield
10 restricted airspace located within St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Lewis
11 counties;
12 (d) five miles of the boundary of the Wheeler-Sack Army airfield class
13 D controlled airspace except where such area is within Lewis county;
14 (e) the Wheeler-Sack Army airfield class D controlled airspace; or
15 (f) the enclosed area beginning at the point where United States route
16 eleven intersects New York route twenty-six; thence north along United
17 States route eleven to New York route fifty-six; thence south along New
18 York route fifty-six to the border of the Adirondack state park; thence
19 west along the border of the Adirondack state park to a point directly
20 due east of the intersection of United States route eleven and New York
21 route twenty-six; thence due west until the point where United States
22 route eleven intersects New York route twenty-six.
23 2. For the purposes of this act, "state agency" shall mean any board,
24 authority, agency, department, commission, public corporation, or
25 instrumentality of the state.
26 § 3. Funding to wind electric generation facilities. No state agency
27 shall provide or distribute funding to wind electric generation facili-
28 ties that come into operation after July 1, 2018 and are located within
29 the Fort Drum radar zone.
30 § 4. Incentives and payments for wind electric generation facilities.
31 Wind electric generation facilities that come into operation after July
32 1, 2018 and that are located within the Fort Drum radar zone shall not
33 be deemed eligible facilities for the redemption of incentives or
34 payments from a state agency program.
35 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
36 this act shall be deemed repealed fifteen years after it shall have
37 become a law.
