{"id":28443,"date":"2017-07-07T12:40:41","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T17:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=28443"},"modified":"2017-07-07T12:41:06","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T17:41:06","slug":"western-oklahoma-wind-farms-disrupting-military-flights-aeronautics-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2017\/07\/07\/western-oklahoma-wind-farms-disrupting-military-flights-aeronautics-officials-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Oklahoma Wind Farms Disrupting Military Flights, Aeronautics Officials Say"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"T-38<\/p>\n

Bill Wilson \/ Flickr\/CC BY 2.0<\/p>\n

T-38 Talon training aircraft from Vance Air Force Base in Enid participating in a fly-over in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Wind Farms The growing number of wind farms in western Oklahoma is disrupting military flight training, state aeronautics and military officials say.<\/p>

The problem is concentrated along flight paths used for military training near Vance Air Force Base in Enid and Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission Director Victor Bird tells<\/a> the Tulsa World’<\/i>s Barbara Hoberock:<\/p>\n

He said the wind turbines stretch 495 feet above ground, while the training routes start at 500 feet above ground.<\/p>

\u201cGenerally speaking, there is not enough clearance,\u201d Bird said.<\/p>

\u201cThese are men and women who don\u2019t know how to fly yet,\u201d said Mike Cooper, chairman of the Oklahoma Strategic Military Planning Commission. \u201cThey are learning how to fly.\u201d<\/p>

A measure that would have required wind farm operators to get a permit from the Aeronautics Commission before construction, Senate Bill 447<\/a>, died during the 2017 legislative session.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Jeff Clark with the Wind Coalition says wind farm locations are cleared with the U.S. Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration:<\/p>\n

The Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission does not have expertise in the area, and the bill would have created unnecessary bureaucracy, Clark said.<\/p>

\u201cWe believe that protecting the viability of our military bases should be the top priority and we should rely on the experts in the military \u2014 not an unqualified state bureaucracy \u2014 to determine impacts of proposed projects,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>

Bird disagrees, saying his agency has been administering for seven years the Aircraft Pilot and Passenger Protection Act, which protects areas around public airports, including military airports, from incompatible development.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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