Dave Condon, a member of Virginians for Responsible Energy, LLC, has written letters to the Virginia Air National Guard and the Federal Aviation Administration concerning the danger windmill turbines on North Mountain would create.
According to Condon, who served in the U.S. Navy after graduating from VMI in 1972, erecting 13 windmill turbines 644’5” above ground level (AGL) on top of the southern portion of North Mountain would create danger for military pilots who fly in the area.
Condon, whose family came from Goshen, has contacted the government authorities who are in control of the three air routes that exist close to North Mountain. The crux of the matter is that the three air routes are too close to where the proposed Rocky Forge Wind Project that Apex Clean Energy based in Charlottesville proposes to build in order to generate electricity that the company claims will power 21,000 homes.
As a side note, the power grid controlled by JPM Electric LLC will only allow 10-15% of any power generated by those wind turbines or 2500 homes only.
Living on top of a hill near the Town of Iron Gate, Condon has a bird’s eye view of where the Rocky Forge Wind Project would be completed, and he has witnessed low flying aircraft that in some cases impacted his home with jet blasts from accelerating aircraft. He has taken photos of such aircraft to document their flight patterns.
As Condon has publically pointed out at a hearing held by the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors in Daleville concerning the Rocky Forge Wind Project, the military air route, VR96, only has a visual approach from the east to west as it approaches North Mountain where the wind turbines would be built creating hazardous structures for aircraft flying low to the ridges. This was the only air route which the Department of the Air Force/FAA and Apex Clean Energy came to an agreement for avoiding the windmill turbines while crossing the North Mountain from east to west.
One of his letters has been mailed to General Toni Lord of the Virginia Air National Guard concerning the FAA and the proposed Rocky Forge, LLC project (ANS 2022-WTE-243-OE). In that letter, Condon revealed, “The FAA is relying on old information from the 2019-TE-8774-0E aeronautical studies. Documentation from the FAA recognized IR-608 as a conflict. Per the OP1B manual of charts, the 10NM corridor width at Point D from the centerline encompasses the Rock Forge site. Planes have been seen flying as low as 300-500 feet AGL over the Rocky Forge site. Yet, it was never mitigated by the Navy Department and ignored by the FAA OEG (Obstruction Evaluation Group).”
When air route (IR-762) crosses the James River in a southerly direction, it then becomes VR-1756 with a noted 1 mile left of centerline width corridor per the OP1B manual. Condon observed, “The distance from the centerline (of VR-1756) and the closest Rocky Forge windmill turbine (if built) is exactly 1.79 NM per Google Earth,” leaving only ¾ mile is very dangerous. He continued, “This is a very dangerous situation and does not provide any margin for pilot error.” Condon offered, “Just a fraction of a second of pilot distraction or an extremely small navigational error could result in tragedy that would otherwise not have occurred if the wind turbines were not present for those flying low at high speeds.” FAA documents revealed this air route but it was never identified nor mitigated with the Navy Department.
“The truth of the matter is that there are three air routes close enough to where Rocky Forge Wind Project has been proposed to merit concern for the safety of military pilots as they utilize the air routes on training missions that require low flying to practice avoiding radar detection,” Condon observed.
As for the activism of those with Virginians for Responsible Energy, a group of concerned citizens from the counties of Botetourt, Rockbridge and Alleghany, Condon revealed, “I testified at a hearing in Daleville about the danger of aviation fuel causing a fire should a crash occur.”
He continued, “That type of fire cannot be extinguished by water because it requires foam from foam fighting equipment to extinguish the oxygen from the fire.”
Condon pointed out that Botetourt County is ill-equipped to fight a forest fire that could result from an airplane crash on North Mountain because the country lacks enough of the foam and the type of vehicles that can climb the steep roads that would be necessary to navigate to reach such a fire were it to occur.
Currently, Eric Claunch, another member of Virginians for Responsible Energy, has voiced Condon’s concerns for military aviators’ safety.
Claunch communicated by mail to Condon on April 19, “…closeness of the military routes to the Rocky Forge Wind Project’s proposed site means that the project must be rejected or mitigated.”
“Since there are three military training routes in the Aeronautical Study, the complexity strongly suggests rejecting these structures at this location,” Claunch asserted.
He further pointed out that rules governing such installations as the Rocky Forge Wind Project within a military training route are required by law to be filed properly at least one year prior to the beginning of construction.
Both Condon and Claunch have raised red flags concerning the safety issues, especially should bad weather or pilot error be involved.
They conclude that should the installation of windmill turbines at the proposed location be installed that they could very well lead to an aviation disaster that could result in loss of life and a forest fire that could endanger homeowners in the area surrounding North Mountain.
