MINOT, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota regulators voted Wednesday to reject a permit for a proposed wind farm in Ward and McLean counties.
The Public Service Commission denied the permit for Southern Power’s Ruso Wind project by a 2-1 vote, the Bismarck Tribun e reported. But the commission left open the possibility of reconsidering the project down the road.
The project had difficulties complying with a 2017 state law requiring new technology to stop lights atop the turbines from blinking red all night.
Southern Power planned to use radar-based light-mitigating technology, which would have turned off the lights at night except for when aircraft pass in the vicinity of the turbines.
But the Minot Airforce Base raised concerns that the blinking likes could tip off an enemy to a helicopter’s location - the Air Force flies hundreds of helicopter missions annually to intercontinental ballistic missile sites, some near the proposed turbines.
Others complained that flashing red lights would ruin the dark night sky.
A message left with Southern Power was not immediately returned to The Associated Press.
The 2017 law requires technology to mitigate the lights. So far, the Federal Aviation Administration has authorized only the radar-based light-mitigating system. There is an alternative that would dim the lights based on visibility conditions, but wind farms can’t use it yet because it doesn’t have federal approval.
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