WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation under then-Secretary Pete Buttigieg brushed aside safety concerns to approve dozens of windmill projects near America’s highways and railroads — despite acknowledging potential hazards, The Post has learned.
At least 33 safety recommendations to place wind turbines well clear of the critical infrastructure were overruled in 2023 and 2024, according to a current department official, permitting the projects to be built close enough to possibly interfere with vital radio communications.
In March 2023, for example, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications Information Administration informed an Illinois wind farm seeking regulatory approval that “the turbine locations that fall within the one-to-three-mile boundary of these rails may be problematic for train communications in this area and present an undue risk.”
The Heritage Prairie Wind Energy Project had been under review for 45 days before DOT flagged the problem.
Nine months later, however, the Commerce Department issued another letter withdrawing the Transportation Department’s previous concerns without explanation.
“DOT continues to review and analyze the potential for harmful interference that might result from turbines placed within close proximity of rail, highway, and other transportation infrastructure, and reserves the right to make setback recommendations, or any other recommendation deemed necessary by the Department, on future projects,” the January 2024 letter stated.
The about-face came as the Biden administration was approving hundreds of billions of dollars in green energy tax credits for wind projects through one of the 46th president’s signature legislative achievements, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is now launching a department-wide review of any wind farms near transportation infrastructure — and is accusing Buttigieg and former President Joe Biden of having let green energy objectives override safety concerns.
“Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg put climate religion ahead of safety — blatantly ignoring engineers who warned of the danger of constructing wind turbines near railroads and highways,” Duffy said.
“That’s why I’m immediately implementing a higher standard of safety. What the past administration did is a shame, but it’s a pattern for Biden and Buttigieg.”
Reps for Biden and Buttigieg did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The new federal regulations will mandate at least 1.2 miles between wind farms and train tracks or roads after an independent study found that the former interfered with radio signals necessary to operate transportation infrastructure.
The Federal Aviation Administration will also start looking into potential affects on US airspace, which the Commerce Department’s letter also referenced as a potential issue.
Another 140 wind projects were never given a safety recommendation at all by Buttigieg’s DOT, a current department official noted, though it’s not clear how many of those would have been placed within the 1.2-mile buffer.
The Post exclusively reported last week that the Transportation Department under Buttigieg approved more than $80 billion in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, with Duffy charging his predecessor wanted to implement a DEI agenda “while safety was ignored.”
In an interview with NPR Monday, Buttigieg defended his record as “a tough regulator of airlines” after The Post also reported that industry officials claimed his department ignored their pleas to modernize air traffic control systems and address staffing shortages to improve safety.
The DOT’s Office of Transportation for Research and Technology, then-headed by principal deputy assistant secretary Robert Hampshire, supported the wind projects, the pair of letters showed.
In his June 2021 Senate confirmation hearing, Hampshire stated a primary policy goal of the department would be to “advance equity by providing better jobs and better transportation options to underserved communities — including communities of color and rural communities.”
He added that the DOT would focus on ways to “reduce the impacts of climate change by using more sustainable materials.”
Hampshire did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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