Major General Walter Piatt addressed the NYS Senate below are excerpts from Major General Piatt’s speech that are relevant to Industrial wind development in the north country.
“We also spent a lot of time working with communities talking about how our
training needs are expanding and that our enemies gain the ability to defeat us
from further and further away. The way we are fighting wars now is changing and our training has to change with it. We are now facing enemies that can attack us from further away in many areas. Our enemies have us outnumbered ,outgunned and out ranged. This is unacceptable. We must be able to win our wars to protect our nation, which means we have to be able to defeat every adversary that poses a threat to our United States. If we can win that war we can certainly deter that war, but we need to train against the future fights. Because our enemies are expanding these threats through air defense systems that are elaborate that can deny the US Air Force entry into certain spaces, they make it very difficult. It becomes now again a land fight. It's a call for the US Army and the Army Infantry is even more important now than it ever has been, but to be able to defeat that enemy we've got to train against that, against greater standoff utilizing manned and unmanned systems. We need to be able to train with Air Force and the New York Air National Guard, so they can drop their precision munitions on Fort Drum for many years to come on platforms that exist today, and many that aren't even invented yet. If we are properly to train our soldiers for what awaits them on the future battlefield we must continue to train for that future. We must be prepared with methods not yet understood, with technology not yet invented, and doctrine not yet written.
“This sort of training brings the idea to bear of encroachment around our post into clear focus. The main topic of discussion this past year has been industrial wind turbines. Many on either side of the issue always ask me what is Fort Drum’s position and I remind them strongly Fort Drum is an advocate for positive growth in the North Country. We must do this together. We know that energy needs to be security in our nation and protecting that energy is part of our own national military strategy. We know that green energy is part of that solution, but we also know that if we plan together we can do this smartly. We just want to be part of that process and we I thank all of you here for allowing us to be part of that process. We have been heard by our local communities and by New York State. Local municipalities and developers alike now are reaching out to us to be part of their planning and New York State has made our input part of the article 10 process. These are hard conversations to have as much is at stake, but you have my promise that I will always be transparent and work towards positive growth in the North Country that we all love so much. And I thank you all for your heartfelt considerations in these delicate matters.”
1 comment:
Piatt's Yin and Yang wind speech leaves something to be desired in the transparency field. Nice to see the General wants to be the transparency guy, but transparency isn't the same as clarity. His position on wind encroachment is not clear, it is muddled, vague and indecisive. How long is it going to take for the military to say neighboring wind projects are a problem or not a problem? Seems like this issue has been on the front burner far too long, either serve it or dump it because either way it is way overcooked.
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