Notice2021-26040
Notice of Availability of a Joint Record of Decision (ROD) for the South Fork Wind, LLC Proposed Wind Energy Facility Offshore Rhode Island
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 30, 2021
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentOcean Energy Management Bureau
Abstract
BOEM announces the availability of the joint ROD on the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the construction and operations plan (COP) submitted by South Fork Wind, LLC (South Fork Wind). The joint ROD includes the decisions of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and NMFS regarding the South Fork Wind COP. NMFS has adopted the Final EIS to support its decision to issue an incidental take authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The joint ROD concludes the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for each agency and is available with associated information on BOEM's website at: https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/ south-fork.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 227 (Tuesday, November 30, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 30, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67969-67970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26040]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket No. BOEM-2021-0084]
Notice of Availability of a Joint Record of Decision (ROD) for
the South Fork Wind, LLC Proposed Wind Energy Facility Offshore Rhode
Island
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior; National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability (NOA); record of decision (ROD).
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SUMMARY: BOEM announces the availability of the joint ROD on the final
environmental impact statement (EIS) for the construction and
operations plan (COP) submitted by South Fork Wind, LLC (South Fork
Wind). The joint ROD includes the decisions of the Department of the
Interior (DOI) and NMFS regarding the South Fork Wind COP. NMFS has
adopted the Final EIS to support its decision to issue an incidental
take authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The joint
ROD concludes the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for
each agency and is available with associated information on BOEM's
website at: <a href="https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/south-fork">https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/south-fork</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the South Fork Wind
Offshore Wind Energy Project ROD, please contact: BOEM--Michelle Morin,
BOEM Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 45600 Woodland Road,
Sterling, Virginia 20166, (703) 787-1722, or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#aac7c3c9c2cfc6c6cf84c7c5d8c3c4eac8c5cfc784cdc5dc"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="066b6f656e636a6a63286b69746f68466469636b28616970">[email protected]</span></a>;
For information related to NMFS' action, contact Candace Nachman, NOAA
Fisheries Office of Policy, (301) 427-8031, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7b181a151f1a181e55151a1813161a153b15141a1a551c140d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="fe9d9f909a9f9d9bd0909f9d96939f90be90919f9fd0999188">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: South Fork Wind seeks approval to construct,
operate, maintain, and eventually decommission the Project--a wind
energy facility on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore Rhode
Island and an associated export cable. The Project would be developed
within the range of design parameters outlined in the South Fork Wind
COP, subject to applicable mitigation measures. The COP for the South
Fork Wind Farm (SFWF) proposed the installation of up to 15 wind
turbine generators with a nameplate capacity of 6 to 12 megawatts per
turbine, submarine cables between the wind turbine generators (inter-
array cables), and an offshore substation. The SFWF would be located
entirely on the OCS in the area covered by Renewable Energy Lease OCS-A
0517 (Lease Area), approximately 19 miles southeast of Block Island,
Rhode Island, and 35 miles east of Montauk Point, New York. The South
Fork Export Cable (SFEC) would be an alternating current electric cable
that would connect the SFWF to the existing mainland electric grid in
East Hampton, New York. The Project also would include an operations
and maintenance facility located onshore at either Montauk in East
Hampton, New York, or Quonset Point in North Kingstown, Rhode Island,
and the SFEC will connect with the Long Island Power Authority electric
transmission and distribution system in the town of East Hampton, New
York. After carefully considering alternatives described and analyzed
in the Final EIS and comments from the public on the Draft EIS, the
Department of the Interior has decided to approve the COP for South
Fork Wind under the Fisheries Habitat Impact Minimization Alternative,
which will allow 12 or fewer turbines and one offshore substation to be
installed by South Fork Wind. The full text of the mitigation,
monitoring, and reporting requirements, which will be included in
BOEM's COP approval, are available in the ROD, which is available on
BOEM's website at: <a href="https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/south-fork">https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/south-fork</a>.
NMFS has decided to adopt, in part, BOEM's Final EIS and issue a
final Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to South Fork Wind.
NMFS' final decision to issue the requested IHA is documented in a
separate Decision Memorandum prepared in accordance with internal NMFS
policy and procedures. The IHA authorizes the incidental take of marine
mammals while prescribing the means of incidental take as well as
mitigation and monitoring requirements, including those mandated by the
Biological Opinion issued to complete the formal Endangered Species Act
Section 7 consultation process. A Notice of
[[Page 67970]]
Issuance of the final IHA will be published in the Federal Register.
Authority: This Notice of Availability is published in accordance
with regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508) implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
William Yancey Brown,
Chief Environmental Officer, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2021-26040 Filed 11-29-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P
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