Notice2021-25320
Notice of Additional Public Scoping and Name Change for the Vineyard Wind South Project Offshore Massachusetts Environmental Impact Statement
Primary source
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Published
November 22, 2021
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentOcean Energy Management Bureau
Abstract
On June 30, 2021, BOEM published the "Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Vineyard Wind South Project Offshore Massachusetts" in the Federal Register. The Notice of Intent (NOI) announced that BOEM will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to inform its review of a construction and operations plan (COP) submitted by Vineyard Wind, LLC (Vineyard Wind). This notice provides updated project information related to potential changes in cable routing and announces an additional EIS public scoping comment period to account for the new information. Detailed information about the proposed wind energy facilities, including an updated COP, can be found on BOEM's website at: www.BOEM.gov/New-England-Wind. Also, this notice formally announces that the project's name has changed from Vineyard Wind South to New England Wind.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 222 (Monday, November 22, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 222 (Monday, November 22, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66334-66335]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-25320]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket No. BOEM-2021-0047]
Notice of Additional Public Scoping and Name Change for the
Vineyard Wind South Project Offshore Massachusetts Environmental Impact
Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of additional public scoping; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: On June 30, 2021, BOEM published the ``Notice of Intent to
Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Vineyard Wind South
Project Offshore Massachusetts'' in the Federal Register. The Notice of
Intent (NOI) announced that BOEM will prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS) to inform its review of a construction and operations
plan (COP) submitted by Vineyard Wind, LLC (Vineyard Wind). This notice
provides updated project information related to potential changes in
cable routing and announces an additional EIS public scoping comment
period to account for the new information. Detailed information about
the proposed wind energy facilities, including an updated COP, can be
found on BOEM's website at: <a href="http://www.BOEM.gov/New-England-Wind">www.BOEM.gov/New-England-Wind</a>. Also, this
notice formally announces that the project's name has changed from
Vineyard Wind South to New England Wind.
DATES: Comments are due to BOEM no later than December 22, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Written comments can be submitted in any of the following
ways:
<bullet> Delivered by mail or delivery service, enclosed in an
envelope labeled ``NEW ENGLAND WIND COP EIS'' and addressed to Program
Manager, Office of Renewable Energy, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, Virginia 20166; or
<bullet> Through the <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a> web portal: Navigate to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> and search for ``Docket No. BOEM-2021-0047.''
Select this document from the search results and, once on the document
page, click on the ``Comment'' button below the document title. Enter
your information and comment, then scroll to bottom of the web page and
click ``Submit Comment.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Fiori, BOEM Office of
Environmental Programs, 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, Virginia 20166,
(703) 787-1832, or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4d3e39283d252c232428632b24223f240d2f222820632a223b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="81f2f5e4f1e9e0efe8e4afe7e8eef3e8c1e3eee4ecafe6eef7">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 30, 2021, BOEM published the
``Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the
Vineyard Wind South Project Offshore Massachusetts'' in the Federal
Register (86 FR 34782). The NOI announced that BOEM will prepare an EIS
as part of its review of a COP submitted by Vineyard Wind and provided
project information. This notice provides revised project information
and announces an additional EIS public scoping comment process to
account for the new information.
Vineyard Wind intends to install all Phase 2 offshore export cables
within the offshore export cable corridor (OECC) through the Muskeget
Channel to reach landfall sites in the Town of Barnstable,
Massachusetts. However, Vineyard Wind has identified two variations of
the Phase 2 OECC. These variations are necessary to provide Vineyard
Wind with commercial flexibility should technical, logistical, grid
interconnection, or other unforeseen issues arise during project review
that would preclude or limit placement of Phase 2 export cables through
the initial OECC in vicinity of the Muskeget Channel. The two
variations of the Phase 2 OECC are as follows:
(1) The Western Muskeget Variant is an OECC variant that was
included in the Vineyard Wind 1 project and includes the installation
of one or two Phase 2 export cables in the western Muskeget Channel.
(2) The South Coast Variant diverges from the initial OECC at the
northern boundary of Lease Area OCS-A 0501 and travels west-northwest
to the state waters boundary near Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts, through
state waters, and onshore to a substation. The South Coast Variant
includes an offshore routing envelope that indicates a region within
Buzzards Bay where the Phase 2 offshore export cables may be installed
before making landfall. It also includes an onshore routing envelope
that indicates a region within southwest Massachusetts where the Phase
2 onshore cables may be installed. The location of a potential
substation in southwest Massachusetts has not been identified.
Public Participation
This notice commences an additional public scoping process to
identify issues and potential alternatives related to the two newly
proposed variations of the New England Wind Phase 2 OECC. Throughout
the scoping process,
[[Page 66335]]
Federal agencies, Tribal, State, and local governments, and the general
public have the opportunity to help BOEM identify significant resources
and issues, impact-producing factors, reasonable alternatives (e.g.,
size, geographic, seasonal, or other restrictions on construction and
siting of facilities and activities), and potential mitigation measures
to be analyzed in the EIS, as well as to provide additional
information. A pre-recorded presentation, that highlights the new
information, can be found at <a href="https://www.boem.gov/new-england-wind">https://www.boem.gov/new-england-wind</a>. For
information on how to submit comments, see the ADDRESSES section above.
BOEM does not consider anonymous comments. Please include your name
and address as part of your comment. BOEM makes all comments, including
the names, addresses, and other personally identifiable information
included in the comment, available for public review online.
Individuals can request that BOEM withhold their names, addresses, or
other personally identifiable information included in their comment
from the public record; however, BOEM cannot guarantee that it will be
able to do so. For BOEM to withhold from disclosure your personally
identifiable information, you must identify any information contained
in your comments that, if released, would constitute a clearly
unwarranted invasion of your privacy. You also must briefly describe
any possible harmful consequences of the disclosure of information,
such as embarrassment, injury, or other harm.
Additionally, under section 304 of National Historic Preservation
Act (NHPA), BOEM is required, after consultation with the Secretary of
the Interior, to withhold the location, character, or ownership of
historic resources if it determines that disclosure may, among other
things, cause a significant invasion of privacy, risk harm to the
historic resources, or impede the use of a traditional religious site
by practitioners. Tribal entities and other interested parties should
designate information that they wish to be held as confidential and
provide the reasons why BOEM should do so.
All submissions from organizations or businesses and from
individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of
organizations or businesses will be made available for public
inspection in their entirety.
Request for Identification of Potential Alternatives, Information, and
Analyses Relevant to the Two Variations of the Phase 2 OECC
BOEM requests data, comments, views, information, analysis,
alternatives, or suggestions from the public; affected Federal, State,
Tribal, and local governments, agencies, and offices; the scientific
community; industry; or any other interested party on the following
topics with particular focus on the new project information related to
the two variations of the Phase 2 OECC:
1. Potential effects that the two variations of the Phase 2 OECC
could have on biological resources, including bats, birds, coastal
fauna, finfish, invertebrates, essential fish habitat, marine mammals,
and sea turtles.
2. Potential effects that the two variations of the Phase 2 OECC
could have on physical resources including air quality, water quality,
and wetlands and other waters of the United States.
3. Potential effects that the two variations of the Phase 2 OECC
could have on socioeconomic and cultural resources, including
commercial fisheries and for-hire recreational fishing, demographics,
employment, economics, environmental justice, land use and coastal
infrastructure, navigation and vessel traffic, other uses (marine
minerals, military use, aviation), recreation and tourism, and scenic
and visual resources.
4. Other possible reasonable alternatives to the Proposed Action
related to the two variations of the Phase 2 OECC that BOEM should
consider, including additional or alternative avoidance, minimization,
and mitigation measures.
5. As part of its compliance with NHPA section 106 and its
implementing regulations (36 CFR part 800), BOEM seeks comment and
input from the public and consulting parties regarding the
identification of historic properties within the Proposed Action's area
of potential effects, the potential effects on those historic
properties from the activities proposed in the COP, and any information
that supports identification of historic properties under NHPA. BOEM
also solicits proposed measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate any
adverse effects on historic properties related to the two variations of
the Phase 2 OECC. BOEM's effects analysis for historic properties will
be available for public and consulting party comment in the draft EIS.
6. Information on other current or planned activities in, or in the
vicinity of, the two variations of the Phase 2 OECC and the possible
impacts those activities and variations may have on each other.
7. Other information relevant to the two variations of the Phase 2
OECC and their impacts on the human environment.
To promote informed decision-making, comments should be as specific
as possible and should provide as much detail as necessary to
meaningfully and fully inform BOEM of the commenter's position.
Comments should explain why the issues raised are important to the
consideration of potential environmental impacts and alternatives
relevant to the two variations of the Phase 2 OECC, as well as to the
economic, employment, and other impacts affecting the quality of the
human environment.
The draft EIS will include a summary of all alternatives,
information, and analyses submitted during the scoping process for
consideration by BOEM and the cooperating agencies.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. and 40 CFR 1501.9.
William Yancey Brown,
Chief Environmental Officer, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2021-25320 Filed 11-19-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P
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