[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 181 (Friday, September 18, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56494-56495]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-22988]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[BOEM-2015-0078; MMAA104000]
Revised Environmental Assessment for Commercial Wind Lease
Issuance and Site Assessment Activities on the Atlantic Outer
Continental Shelf Offshore North Carolina
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: BOEM is announcing the availability of a revised Environmental
Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for
commercial wind lease issuance, site characterization activities
(geophysical, geotechnical, archaeological, and biological surveys),
and site assessment activities (including the installation and
operation of a meteorological tower and/or buoys) on the Atlantic Outer
Continental Shelf offshore North Carolina. The revised EA provides a
discussion of potential impacts of the proposed action and an analysis
of reasonable alternatives to the proposed action. In accordance with
the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and
the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) regulations implementing
NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500 through 1508), BOEM issued a FONSI supported by
the analysis in the revised EA. The FONSI concluded that the reasonably
foreseeable environmental impacts associated with the proposed action
and alternatives, as set forth in the EA, would not significantly
impact the quality of the human environment; therefore, the preparation
of an Environmental Impact Statement is not required. These documents
and associated information are available on BOEM's Web site at http://www.boem.gov/North-Carolina/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle Morin, BOEM Office of
Renewable Energy Programs, 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, Virginia
20166, (703) 787-1340 or [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In January 2015, BOEM published an EA to
consider the reasonably foreseeable environmental consequences
associated with commercial wind lease issuance, site characterization
activities, and site assessment activities in three wind energy areas
(WEAs) offshore North Carolina. The 2015 EA considered all three North
Carolina WEAs for leasing and approval of site assessment plans as the
proposed action under NEPA. A Notice of Availability was published on
January 23, 2015 to announce the availability of the EA and initiate a
30-day public comment period (80 FR 3621). The EA was subsequently
revised based on comments received during the comment period and public
information meetings. The revised EA provides updated environmental
data, additional details on how the WEAs were delineated, and analysis
of potential effects to the proposed critical habitat expansion for
North Atlantic right whales, which was published during the public
comment period for the 2015 EA. A summary of comments received on the
2015 EA and BOEM's responses to those comments is also provided in the
revised EA.
In addition to the proposed action, the revised EA considers the
following alternatives: Exclusion of the Wilmington West WEA from
leasing; seasonal restrictions on certain site characterization
activities; and no action. BOEM's analysis of the proposed action and
alternatives takes into account standard operating conditions (SOCs)
designed to avoid or minimize potential impacts to marine mammals and
sea turtles. The SOCs can be found in Appendix B of the revised EA.
BOEM will use the revised EA to inform decisions to issue leases in
the North Carolina WEAs, and to
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subsequently approve site assessment plans on those leases. BOEM may
issue one or more commercial wind energy leases in the North Carolina
WEAs. The competitive leasing process is set forth at 30 CFR 585.210
through 585.225. If a lessee is prepared to propose a wind energy
generation facility on its lease, the lessee can submit a Construction
and Operations Plan (COP) to BOEM. BOEM would then prepare a separate
site- and project-specific NEPA analysis based on the activities
proposed in the COP.
Authority: This Notice of Availability for an EA is in
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as
amended (42 U.S.C. 4231 et seq.), and is published pursuant to 43
CFR 46.305.
Dated: August 3, 2015.
Abigail Ross Hopper,
Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2015-22988 Filed 9-17-15; 8:45 am]
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