Chris Smith: “my amendment, similar to a previous amendment that I offered to the FAA reauthorization which passed the House in July…”

“my amendment, similar to a previous amendment that I offered to the FAA reauthorization which passed the House in July 2023, requires the Secretary of Defense or his designee to certify that offshore wind turbine projects in the North Atlantic and mid-Atlantic planning areas will "not weaken, degrade, interfere with, or nullify the performance and capabilities of radar relied upon by commercial aviation, military aviation, space launch vehicles, or other commercial space entities." Mr. Chair, many of us are deeply concerned over the safety, efficacy, and, likely, detrimental environmental impact of embedding ocean wind turbines, each the size of the Chrysler Building in New York City--that is how big they are--off our coast. This amendment is not that. It focused exclusively on the serious, well-founded concerns that offshore wind turbines will interfere with radar capabilities and, as a consequence, create a dangerous and potentially catastrophic impact on both military and commercial aviation activities. As far back as 2016, Mr. Chair, the Federal Interagency Wind Turbine Radar Interference Mitigation Strategy stated, in part: "Wind development located within the line of sight of radar systems can cause clutter and interference, which at some radars has resulted in significant performance degradation. . . .”