[ RadSafe ] Offshore wind project FAA approval revoked -Possible hazard to aviation in Nantucket Sound

[Stewart Farber]

Hello all,

 

It's not just nuclear plants that face adverse regulatory decisions. A
Federal Appeals court rules that FAA "Determination of No Hazard" for $2.6
Billion [that $2.6 Giga for our English members who like to say Giga- ] 468
MW[e] peak generation off-shore wind turbine project, "arbitrarily and
capriciously failed to calculate the dangers posed to local aviation". See
article at link below, or the text from the link copied under my signature
from Power Engineering:

 

<http://www.power-eng.com/articles/2011/10/offshore-wind-project-sees-faa-de
termination-revoked.html>

 

Many people in Massachusetts may have second thoughts about shutting down
Pilgrim Nuclear Station with its 685 MW[e] output generation at recent 95%
capacity factor.

 

A Limerick  perhaps?:

 

"There once was a proposed wind farm off Nantucket

But, a judge said safety standards weren't  met 

So the permits were yanked

Cape Wind Developers/National Grid got spanked

So the developers finally gave up and said  f. it"

 

 

Stewart Farber, MSPH

email: SAFarber at optonline.net

203-441-8433

 

 

=============

From:

Power Engineering News

Oct 31, 2011 

 

 

A federal appeals court revoked the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA)
determination Oct. 27 that the planned $2.6 billion, 468 MW Cape Wind
project would not present a flight hazard in Nantucket Sound. The appeals
court remanded the issue back to the agency for review.

 

Organizations and area tribes petitioned the court for review, saying that
the FAA violated its governing statute, misread its own regulations and
arbitrarily and capriciously failed to calculate the dangers posed to local
aviation, news reports said. The FAA's review could reportedly take up to
two years.

 

Mark Rodgers, communications director with Cape Wind, said in a statement
that the ruling should not push back any project schedules.

 

"The essence of today's court ruling is that the FAA needs to better explain
its Determination of No Hazard," Rodgers said. "We are confident that after
the FAA does this, that their decision will stand and we do not foresee any
impact on the project's schedule in moving forward."

 

Rodgers also said in the statement that the Determination of No Hazard was
set to expire in 90 days and Cape Wind would have had to reapply anyway.

 

In May 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy denied a $2 billion loan
guarantee for the project. The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities
approved a power purchase agreement in 2010 for National Grid to purchase
half of the output from Cape Wind, but project owners have not secured a
buyer for the remaining output.