Federal Wind Siting Activities
Review past and present activities undertaken across the Federal government to improve and expedite the process for responsible wind project siting and development. Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.
Agencies whose names are listed in bold are the lead agencies for their activities.
| Siting Topic | Actions | Participating Federal Agencies and Other Entities | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completed | |||
| Radar | Interagency Meeting at the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) about Wind and Radar Interference | CEQ, DOE, DOD, FAA | Meeting held June 2006 |
| Radar | Wind Power and Radar technical meeting convened in Reno, NV July 2006 | DOE, DOD, FAA | Proceeding; Technical and market information posted to Web site |
| Radar | Wind-radar interaction information resources added to the Wind Powering America Web site | DOE | Information now available here |
| Radar | Expedited review and evaluation of wind project siting in several states | FAA, DOD, DOE | |
| Radar | Published a report on the effect of wind turbine interactions with military radar systems | DOD | Completed September 2006 (PDF 1.3 MB) |
| Radar | Published paper on the Impacts of Wind Farms on WSR-88D Operations and Policy Considerations | DOC/NOAA | Completed January 2007 |
| Siting/ Permitting |
Prepare a report for county government officials on wind-siting issues at the county level | DOE | Report published October 2006 (PDF 1.1 MB) |
| Transmission | Support for wind-related transmission right-of-way in MN | DOE, DOT | ROW Approved |
| Underway | |||
| Environmental | Establish an interagency committee to develop Fish and Wildlife wind siting guidelines under Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) | FWS, BLM | FACA Committee established March 2007 |
| Radar | Develop a prescreening tool for radar installations | FAA, DOD | Development underway |
| Radar | Develop summary of existing and potential mitigation options | DOE | In development |
| Radar | Engaged industry and regulators on TDX's Alaska wind project applications to FAA | DOE, FAA | Approval pending |
| Radar | Participate on wind/radar panel and present paper/posters at WINDPOWER 2007 on weather radars and wind farms | DOE, FAA, DOD, DOC/NOAA, USDA | June 2007 |
| Siting/ Permitting |
Publish a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for alternative energy activities on the Outer Continental Shelf | MMS, DOE | Draft PEIS released March 2007 |
| Siting/ Permitting |
Prepare an MOU to establish an interagency consultation process between DOD and BLM for wind energy applications on BLM public lands | DOD, BLM | Draft MOU prepared |
| Siting/ Permitting |
Establish wind energy policy siting guidelines for wind energy projects on National Forest System lands | USDA/FS | Policy being finalized |
| Proposed | |||
| Radar | Develop field tests of wind-radar/wind-weather radar interaction | DOE, DOD/AF, FAA, DOC/NOAA | |
| Radar | Develop communication and outreach activities to protect operations at sensitive DOE facilities from potential wind interference | DOE/NNSA | |