The US Department of the Interior yesterday announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will conduct an environmental review of the first proposed wind energy project offshore Maryland.
This week, the Department will publish a notice of intent (NOI) to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the construction and operations plan (COP) submitted by US Wind, LLC. This is the tenth offshore wind energy COP review initiated under the Biden-Harris administration.
The lease area is approximately 10 nautical miles off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland, and approximately nine nautical miles offshore Sussex County, Delaware.
The publication of the NOI opens a 30-day public comment period through July 8, as part of the process to help BOEM determine the scope of its environmental review.
The public comment period will help identify what BOEM should consider as part of its environmental review of US Wind’s COP. Throughout the scoping process, multiple opportunities exist to help BOEM determine the important resources and issues, impact-producing factors, reasonable alternatives and potential mitigating measures that should be analysed in the EIS.
BOEM will hold three virtual public scoping meetings in June to inform the preparation of the EIS.
US Wind’s proposal calls for construction and operation of an offshore wind project with a total capacity between 1,100 and 2,000 megawatts, and includes installation of up to 121 turbines, up to four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological tower and up to four offshore export cable corridors.
