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Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 8:22:59 AM

pahunkboy

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3300814.ece

The article cites the radar for planes. You cant tell me there is no way to get around this. Everything is so revolving around national security. But what is national security? Really- what is it? Is the mockery of shared sacrafice really national security? How about CEO golden parachutes when they outsource the middle class? Is this not a threat to national security? How about when elites clain the cayman islands and other far fetched schemes to avoid paying their fair share of taxes? Is this good for the nation? How about evironmental damage?

If you LIKE that - youll love an upcoming post. The cheese board has approved putting glue and such into milk and cheese. More on this soon.

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RE: Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 8:34:52 AM

samboct

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From a technical standpoint, this is near nonsense. The DoD in this country also looked at this problem and decided that there were some pretty straightforward fixes- especially since the location of wind farms is well known as is their velocity. It's no different than having a building in these locations and when was the last time developers had to worry about putting up buildings with respect to national defense?

Sam

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RE: Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 9:17:59 AM

luckydog1

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We are butting this issue in my city. IF we put a wind farm on Fire Island we will have to move a runway at the airport. It is a real concern, but easily dealt with in most cases.

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RE: Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 10:07:37 AM

pahunkboy

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quote:

ORIGINAL: luckydog1

We are butting this issue in my city. IF we put a wind farm on Fire Island we will have to move a runway at the airport. It is a real concern, but easily dealt with in most cases.

LMAO! I hadnt thought of that. *throws pie in face of tattler*

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RE: Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 10:14:29 AM

SubbieOnWheels

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(Resisting with all my strength the temptation to respond to the cheese issue)

I fail to see the threat to national security. Here in California so-called environmentalists are opposing new windfarms because they will threaten the environment. HUH???

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RE: Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 10:30:34 AM

luckydog1

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well if the windmills were making planes chrash it would be a national problem, and transportation is considered national security. But there are easy fixes for this issue, just costs a little money. Samboct, anyone building anything where it will affect the operation of an airport has to deal with the logistics of it.

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RE: Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 11:09:42 AM

DomKen

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quote:

ORIGINAL: SubbieOnWheels

(Resisting with all my strength the temptation to respond to the cheese issue)

I fail to see the threat to national security. Here in California so-called environmentalists are opposing new windfarms because they will threaten the environment. HUH???

There's been some concern about placing windfarms where they'll kill endangered birds and some "enviromentalists" have complained because they don't like the way they look, classic NIMY stuff. The bird issue is legit though and is being looked into.

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RE: Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 11:24:25 AM

Muttling

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quote:

ORIGINAL: samboct

From a technical standpoint, this is near nonsense. The DoD in this country also looked at this problem and decided that there were some pretty straightforward fixes- especially since the location of wind farms is well known as is their velocity. It's no different than having a building in these locations and when was the last time developers had to worry about putting up buildings with respect to national defense?

Sam

Actually, it's a HUGE difference from buildings. The radar's software has an option to ignore objects that are not moving so they don't show up on the radar screen. This is not true of a wind farm since the blades are in constant motion and the software is not configured to deal with it (right now).

I'm guessing that they can come up with a software fix to recognize the difference between a known wind farm location that you can put into the computer and an aircraft trying to slip in behind the windfarm.

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RE: Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 12:11:16 PM

samboct

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Muttling

The folks I talked to said the radar return issue wasn't that different from a building, and since it was in a known location- wasn't much of an issue.

DomKen-

The history of windfarms is that back in the 80s, they didn't think about the bird issue when doing the siting in CA - Altamont Pass IIRC. Turns out they sited the farms in a major raptor fly zone and the bird flew into the guy wires as well as the blades. However, newer wind farm siting looks at bird flyways and the number of bird strikes has since plummeted. Buildings kill far more birds than do windfarms, as do felines.

Sam

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RE: Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 12:30:00 PM

luckydog1

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These (both birds and windmills) are real issues but are sometimes over blown. There are a few places where a windmill farm would act as a giant bird shreder, for example a mountain pass where huge flocks of migrating birds pass through. These places are far and few between. And not a reason to not put up wind farms, but to do thoughtfull site planning.

The articles in our paper a while back ( I am not going to go bother to research it) said it was the electric fields being generated by the windmills that caused the problem with the radar. But that it was easily correctable if we wanted to change the flight path/move the runway. Or the entire Airport, but that is a local issue.

OF course buildings kill more birds than windmills, Look at the number of Buildings compared to Windmills. Or the number of felines.

< Message edited by luckydog1 -- 2/4/2008 12:32:39 PM >

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RE: Windfarms a threat to national security? - 2/4/2008 1:37:17 PM

pahunkboy

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since when would anyone care about bird kills. record oil profits....hmmm

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