The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced that it is seeking comments by Monday, Feb. 12 on its draft Environmental Assessment regarding potential impacts of wind energy-related leasing, site assessment, and site characterization activities in federal waters off Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.
In conjunction with the comment period, BOEM will hold virtual public meetings on Tuesday, Jan, 30 and Thursday, Feb. 1. BOEM’s proposed action is to issue wind energy leases in the Central Atlantic wind energy areas.
BOEM also announced that it is seeking comments by Monday, Feb. 26 on its draft Environmental Impact Statement regarding potential impacts of wind energy development in six lease areas of the New York Bight. BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein noted that the review represents the “first ever regional environmental review of offshore wind energy development on multiple leases,” adding that “[w]e are confident that this comprehensive approach can create efficiencies for future project-specific wind energy reviews in a manner that protects the ocean environment and marine life.”
In conjunction with the comment period, BOEM will hold public meetings on Wednesday, Jan. 31 (virtual), Monday, Feb. 5 (North Dartmouth, MA), Wednesday, Feb, 7 (Stony Brook, NY), Thursday, Feb. 8 (Toms River, NJ), and Tuesday, Feb, 13 (virtual). BOEM’s proposed action is to adopt programmatic avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures that would be required as conditions of approval for construction and operations activities unless subsequent environmental analysis shows that such measures are not warranted or effective.
