Notice2022-17424
Joint Record of Decision for the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Vineyard Wind 1 Offshore Wind Energy Project; Notice of Availability of Record of Decision Supplements
Primary source
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Published
August 15, 2022
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentOcean Energy Management Bureau
Abstract
BOEM announces the availability of two supplements to the joint ROD on the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the construction and operations plan (COP) submitted by Vineyard Wind 1 LLC (Vineyard Wind 1). The joint ROD included the decisions of the Department of the Interior (DOI), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regarding the Vineyard Wind 1 Offshore Wind Energy Project. In the joint ROD, the USACE adopted the FEIS to support its permitting actions under the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (RHA) and Clean Water Act (CWA). The ROD supplements pertain only to the USACE sections of the joint ROD. They correct clerical errors and clarify a statement. The ROD supplements are available on BOEM's website at https://www.boem.gov/Vineyard-Wind.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 156 (Monday, August 15, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 156 (Monday, August 15, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 50120]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17424]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket No. BOEM-2021-0036]
Joint Record of Decision for the Final Environmental Impact
Statement for the Vineyard Wind 1 Offshore Wind Energy Project; Notice
of Availability of Record of Decision Supplements
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; record of decision (ROD) supplements.
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SUMMARY: BOEM announces the availability of two supplements to the
joint ROD on the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the
construction and operations plan (COP) submitted by Vineyard Wind 1 LLC
(Vineyard Wind 1). The joint ROD included the decisions of the
Department of the Interior (DOI), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regarding the
Vineyard Wind 1 Offshore Wind Energy Project. In the joint ROD, the
USACE adopted the FEIS to support its permitting actions under the
Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (RHA) and Clean Water Act (CWA). The ROD
supplements pertain only to the USACE sections of the joint ROD. They
correct clerical errors and clarify a statement. The ROD supplements
are available on BOEM's website at <a href="https://www.boem.gov/Vineyard-Wind">https://www.boem.gov/Vineyard-Wind</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessica Stromberg, Acting Chief,
Environment Branch for Renewable Energy, Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management, 45600 Woodland Road, VAM-OREP Sterling, Virginia 20166,
(703) 787-1730, or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b2d8d7c1c1dbd1d39cc1c6c0dddfd0d7c0d5f2d0ddd7df9cd5ddc4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7e141b0d0d171d1f500d0a0c11131c1b0c193e1c111b1350191108">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Vineyard Wind 1 plans to construct, operate,
maintain, and eventually decommission an 800-megawatt wind energy
facility on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Massachusetts (the
Project). The Project and associated export cables would be developed
within the range of design parameters outlined in the Vineyard Wind 1
COP, subject to applicable mitigation measures. The Project is located
approximately 14 miles southeast of Martha's Vineyard and a similar
distance southwest of Nantucket. The approved COP allows the
installation of up to 84 wind turbine generators (WTGs) and one or two
offshore substations or electrical service platforms. The WTGs would be
located in water depths ranging from approximately 37 to 49 meters (121
to 161 feet). The approved COP proposed one export cable landfall near
the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, and onshore construction and
staging at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.
As documented in the joint ROD, after carefully considering the
FEIS alternatives, including comments from the public on the draft and
supplemental EISs, DOI decided to approve the COP for Vineyard Wind 1,
NMFS decided to adopt BOEM's FEIS and issue a final incidental
harassment authorization to Vineyard Wind 1, and USACE decided to adopt
BOEM's FEIS and issue a Department of the Army (DA) permit pursuant to
section 404 of the CWA (33 U.S.C. 1344) and section 10 of the RHA (33
U.S.C. 403). The DA permit authorizes Vineyard Wind 1 to discharge fill
below the high tide line of waters of the United States and to perform
work and place structures below the mean high-water mark of navigable
waters of the United States.
Subsequent to the issuance of the joint ROD and prior to the
issuance of the DA permit, USACE issued a ROD supplement correcting
several clerical errors regarding the Project's offshore export cable
corridor length and the total acreage of transmission-cable scour
protection to be authorized under the DA permit.
Following the issuance of the DA permit, USACE issued a second ROD
supplement. That supplement corrected a clerical error that had
resulted in a portion of USACE's public interest determination being
cut off mid-sentence and clarified an incorrect statement in the
``General Public Interest Review'' section of the USACE portion of the
joint ROD.
The USACE portion of the joint ROD included this incorrect
statement: ``While Vineyard Wind is not authorized to prevent free
access to the entire wind development area, due to the placement of the
turbines it is likely that the entire 75,614 acre area will be
abandoned by commercial fisheries due to difficulties with
navigation.'' The second ROD supplement clarified that this statement
was based solely upon comments of interested parties submitted to BOEM
during the public comment period for the draft environmental impact
statement as summarized in appendix K to the FEIS. The statement was
not based upon any separate or independent USACE or other agency
evaluation or study. Accordingly, the statement does not represent the
USACE position regarding the accessibility of the wind development area
to commercial fisheries due to difficulties of navigation that may or
may not result from the placement of the WTGs.
Both ROD supplements are available on BOEM's website at <a href="https://www.boem.gov/Vineyard-Wind">https://www.boem.gov/Vineyard-Wind</a>.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.; 40 CFR parts 1500-1508.
William Yancey Brown,
Chief Environmental Officer, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2022-17424 Filed 8-12-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4340-98-P
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