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A bill making its way through the state legislature would place a permanent ban on the “construction, operation or expansion” of all wind energy facilities — turbines — in all or parts of 39 eastern North Carolina counties. This is an unnecessary and counter-productive proposal that would be bad for the state’s environment and destructive to the state’s struggling eastern rural areas.

A previous temporary ban on commercial wind energy development, which turned some economic opportunities from North Carolina to other states, expired at the end of 2018. But State Bill 377, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, would make its provisions permanent. The bill is opposed by local environmental groups and, certainly, by North Carolina landowners who are currently benefitting from investments in wind energy, as well as other residents whose private property rights would be curtailed.

Brown has called his proposal a “compromise bill,” since it allows wind turbine development in Brunswick, New Hanover and a portion of Pender County. He claims a ban is necessary elsewhere to support military installations where, he says, pilot training or radar facilities might be endangered by large turbines.