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‘Smart from the Start’. US Dept of Interior's Atlantic OCS Offshore Wind Initiative FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (11/23/10) 1. What’s driving this announcement today? Why is this Administration pushing so hard for the development of Atlantic offshore wind?
A top priority of this Administration is developing renewable domestic energy resources to strengthen the nation’s security, generate new jobs for American workers and reduce carbon emissions. A major component of that strategy is to fully harness the economic and energy benefits of our nation’s vast wind potential, including Outer Continental Shelf Atlantic winds, by implementing a smarter permitting process that is efficient, thorough, and unburdened by unnecessary red tape. Congress authorized the Department of the Interior to issue leases for renewable energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) five years ago in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. For several years, however, offshore wind development remained stagnant as questions lingered about jurisdictional issues and the regulatory process that the Department would develop for offshore renewable energy projects. Since taking office, Secretary Salazar has made much progress in addressing many of these questions – for instance, by resolving the jurisdictional dispute between the Department and FERC and developing a new regulatory scheme governing offshore projects. The Secretary also has been aggressive in facilitating initial offshore wind leasing activities, such as Cape Wind, and other projects are moving along in the pipeline. Over the course of the past year, BOEMRE has also made substantial progress working with the states through the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium to promote a regional approach to offshore wind development and through the state task forces, which are provided for in the renewable regulatory regulations BOEMRE finalized in 2009, to identify areas that appear best suited for potential development. Still remaining, however, have been ongoing questions and concerns about how the Department will implement its new regulatory framework and the potential for a very lengthy approval process for any proposed project. For instance, substantial concerns have been raised about the prospect of a 7-10 year timeline for a new and untested approval process, primarily because early indications were that two environmental impact statements pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act would be required for each and every project. This initiative seeks to address some of these needs and concerns.
2. How will this initiative specifically speed offshore wind development?
The objective is to accelerate responsible renewable wind energy development on the Atlantic OCS by using appropriate designated areas, coordinated environmental studies, large-scale planning and expedited approval processes. 3. What involvement will each BOEMRE/State Task Force have in this new Atlantic wind initiative, and what will happen to the work that the Task Forces have already begun?
4. How does this WEA effort interface with the President’s mandate for Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning?
5. Why designate specific Wind Energy Areas (WEA) on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf?
Over the course of the past year, BOEMRE has been actively engaged with federal, state, and local stakeholders through the state task force process and the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium to begin collecting some of this crucial baseline information. The task force meetings have taken place in Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, and Virginia and have included representatives from BOEMRE, FWS, NPS, NOAA, Coast Guard, the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, relevant state agency representatives, and tribal government representatives. Based on the excellent work that has been underway in cooperation with the states, this initiative would designate “Wind Energy Areas” (WEA) for (at least) the following states within 60 days of today’s announcement: Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. We are continuing to evaluate whether we currently have sufficient information on potential resource and use conflicts in additional states, such as New York, that would enable us to also include them in the first round of the WEA process. For other states, such as Maine, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, the identification of WEA will first require some additional coordination among stakeholders, and we anticipate being able to conduct a second round of WEA identifications early next year. For each of the WEAs over the course of the next six months, we would collect relevant information and data from the states and from the various federal agencies that have information and/or equities in the identified areas, including the Department of Defense, NOAA, FWS, and the FAA. This information can either support, or be used to avoid, wind farm development in the identified areas. Potential conflicts that might exist in particular areas include shipping routes, critical habitat for federally listed species such as the North Atlantic right whale, and Department of Defense training areas. 6. What environmental review will take place after WEAs are identified?
Additionally, BOEMRE’s own Environmental Studies Program and Technology Assessment and Research Program have conducted studies on the impacts of renewable energy-related activities. These initiatives have gathered vital information that will inform the regional environmental analysis in these areas. BOEMRE intends to rely heavily on the expertise of other state and federal agencies, and coordinate our compliance processes. Beyond BOEMRE, the Secretary will coordinate with other Federal agencies such as the Department of Commerce and Department of Energy, to pull together all relevant existing data on offshore renewable energy. Also, after obtaining a lease, lessees will likely be required to undertake a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) review of their proposed construction and operations plan. The EIS process will provide the public and federal officials with comprehensive information regarding potential environmental impacts of the project. These potential impacts can be taken into account when deciding whether to grant a permit to operate new wind farms. 7. How will the PEIS and Interim Policy EA already completed support the WEA environmental assessments?
8. Will there be an opportunity for public involvement?
9. After the regional environmental assessment (EA) is completed, what additional NEPA analysis will be required?
If BOEMRE determines during the EA process that conducting the proposed activities would result in significant environmental impacts, then an EIS would be required. If BOEMRE determines during the EA process that conducting the proposed activities would not result in significant environmental impacts, then BOEMRE would issue a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). After either a FONSI is issued or the EIS process is complete, BOEMRE may issue one or more renewable energy leases in the analyzed areas. If and when a construction and operation plan is submitted for a leasehold, an additional NEPA analysis will be prepared. This will likely take the form of an EIS and provide additional opportunities for public involvement. 10. Currently there is no seabed transmission infrastructure to bring offshore wind energy ashore and into a land-based power grid. Without this infrastructure, how can the actions announced today accelerate offshore wind development?
11. Will current lease holders be affected by this WEA initiative? How many companies currently hold leases for offshore OCS wind development? What types of leases do they hold?
In some of these cases, it is possible that site assessment work that has already taken place is sufficient to inform a detailed proposed construction and operation plan for an individual project, and BOEMRE may be able to begin reviewing individual project proposals as early as next year For each of these – and for all individual projects moving forward – we are committed to facilitating a review that ultimately results in a decision on construction as soon as possible. A full site-specific environmental impact statement would likely be required for each project proposed, but as we have experienced in the onshore solar fast-track effort, these types of reviews do not have to take multiple years to complete. As part of this initiative, the Department will commit to aggressive schedules for those reviews and the required dedication of staff and resources. ### |