Notice2022-19964
Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the CVOW-C Wind Energy Facility Offshore of Virginia
Primary source
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Published
September 15, 2022
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS has received a request from the Virginia Electric and Power Company, also known as Dominion Energy Virginia (Dominion Energy), for authorization to take small numbers of marine mammals incidental to the development of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial Project (CVOW-C) in Lease Area Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)-A-0483 off of Virginia over the course of 5 years beginning on March 4, 2024. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of Dominion Energy's request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals. NMFS invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on Dominion Energy's application and request.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 178 (Thursday, September 15, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 178 (Thursday, September 15, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56634-56635]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19964]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XC094
Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals
Incidental to the CVOW-C Wind Energy Facility Offshore of Virginia
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for Letter of Authorization;
request for comments and information.
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SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request from the Virginia Electric and
Power Company, also known as Dominion Energy Virginia (Dominion
Energy), for authorization to take small numbers of marine mammals
incidental to the development of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind
Commercial Project (CVOW-C) in Lease Area Outer Continental Shelf
(OCS)-A-0483 off of Virginia over the course of 5 years beginning on
March 4, 2024. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal
Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of Dominion Energy's
request for the development and implementation of regulations governing
the incidental taking of marine mammals. NMFS invites the public to
provide information, suggestions, and comments on Dominion Energy's
application and request.
DATES: Comments and information must be received no later than October
17, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the applications should be addressed to Jolie
Harrison, Chief, Permits and Conservation Division, Office of Protected
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. Physical comments should
be sent to 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 and
electronic comments should be sent to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4c05181c621c233820232f270c22232d2d622b233a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="612835314f310e150d0e020a210f0e00004f060e17">[email protected]</span></a>.
Instructions: NMFS is not responsible for comments sent by any
other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the
end of the comment period. Comments received electronically, including
all attachments, must not exceed a 25-megabyte file size. Attachments
to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word or Excel or
Adobe PDF file formats only. All comments received are a part of the
public record and will generally be posted online at <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act</a> without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address) voluntarily submitted by the
commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential
business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelsey Potlock, Office of Protected
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427-8401. An electronic copy of Dominion
Energy's application may be obtained online at: <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/incidental-take-authorizations-under-marine-mammal-protection-act</a>. In case of problems accessing these
documents, please call the contact listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.)
direct the Secretary of Commerce (as delegated to NMFS) to allow, upon
request, the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers
of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity
(other than commercial fishing) within a specified geographical region
if certain findings are made and either regulations are issued or, if
the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed
authorization is provided to the public for review.
An incidental take authorization shall be granted if NMFS finds
that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or
stock(s), will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the
availability of the species or stock(s) for subsistence uses (where
relevant), and if the permissible methods of taking and requirements
pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring and reporting of such takings
are set forth.
NMFS has defined ``negligible impact'' in 50 CFR 216.103 as an
impact resulting from the specified activity that cannot be reasonably
expected to, and is not reasonably likely to, adversely affect the
species or stock through effects on annual rates of recruitment or
survival.
The MMPA states that the term ``take'' means to harass, hunt,
capture, kill or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill any marine
mammal.
Except with respect to certain activities not pertinent here, the
MMPA defines ``harassment'' as: any act of pursuit, torment, or
annoyance, which (i) has the potential to injure a marine mammal or
marine mammal stock in the wild (Level A harassment); or (ii) has the
potential to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild
by causing disruption of behavioral patterns, including, but not
limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or
sheltering (Level B harassment).
Summary of Request
On February 16, 2022, NMFS received application from Dominion
Energy, requesting authorization to take marine mammals incidental to
the development of CVOW-C in the BOEM Lease Area (OCS)-A-0483
Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development
off of Virginia. In response to our comments, and following
[[Page 56635]]
extensive information exchanges with NMFS, Dominion Energy submitted a
revised application on August 9, 2022 that we determined was adequate
and complete on August 12, 2022. Dominion Energy requested the
regulations and subsequent 5-year Letter of Authorization (LOA) be
valid from March 4, 2024 through March 3, 2029.
Dominion Energy plans to conduct the following activities
associated with the wind farm construction: vibratory and impact
installation of wind turbine generators (WTG) monopiles foundations and
offshore substation (OSS) jacket foundations; temporary use of goal
posts to guide installation activities during the trenchless
installation by impact pile driving; vibratory installation and removal
of temporary cofferdams using sheet piles at the sea-to-shore
transitions; site characterization surveys using a range of
frequencies; placement of scour protection; and export cable trenching,
laying, and burial. Vessels will be used to transport crew, supplies,
and materials to the project area and to support pile installation. A
subset of these activities (i.e., installing piles using impact and
vibratory pile driving; site characterization surveys) may result in
the take, by Level A harassment and Level B harassment, of marine
mammals. Therefore, Dominion Energy requests authorization to
incidentally take marine mammals.
Specified Activities
In Executive Order 14008, President Biden stated that it is the
policy of the United States to organize and deploy the full capacity of
its agencies to combat the climate crisis to implement a Government-
wide approach that reduces climate pollution in every sector of its
economy; increases resilience to the impacts of climate change;
protects public health; conserves our lands, water, and biodiversity;
delivers environmental justice; and spurs well-paying union jobs and
economic growth, especially through innovation, commercialization, and
deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure.
Furthermore, this project would directly support the goals of the
Virginia Clean Economy Act passed by the Virginia General Assembly in
2020, which supports the development of clean and reliable offshore
wind energy to be developed by 2028 and consist of approximately 2,500
to 3,000 MW of energy.
Through a competitive leasing process under 30 CFR 585.211,
Dominion Energy was awarded Commercial Lease OCS-A 0483 offshore of
Virginia and the exclusive right to submit a construction and
operations plan (COP) for activities within the lease area. Dominion
Energy submitted a COP to BOEM proposing the construction, operation,
maintenance, and conceptual decommissioning of the CVOW-C project, a
2,500 to 3,000 megawatt (MW) commercial-scale offshore wind energy
facility with a Lease Area covering approximately 112,799 acres (456.48
km\2\) and located 27 nautical miles (50 km) off of the coastline of
Virginia Beach. Per the ITA application, CVOW-C would consist of up to
205 WTGs with associated monopile foundations, up to three OSSs with
associated jacket foundations, and one transmission cable-to-shore.
Dominion Energy anticipates that activities potentially resulting
in the take of marine mammals could occur for the life of the requested
5-year Incidental Take Regulation (ITR) and associated Letter of
Authorization (LOA). This includes:
<bullet> Several construction-related high-resolution site
assessment geophysical surveys using acoustic sources <180 kilohertz
(kHz) for up to 1,108 days during all 5 years (with varying effort
based on survey year);
<bullet> The installation of up to 205 WTGs monopile foundations;
each foundation would be a tapered (i.e., one end has a larger diameter
than the other end) 7.5/9.5-meter (m) pile by vibratory and impact pile
driving;
<bullet> The installation of up to three OSSs jacket foundations
using four pin piles (2.8-m) each by vibratory and impact pile driving;
<bullet> The installation and removal of up to nine temporary
cofferdams using steel sheet piles by vibratory pile driving at the
offshore nearshore trenchless installation punch-out for the burial of
the direct pipe west of the firing range at the State Military
Reservation in Virginia Beach; and,
<bullet> The installation of temporary goal posts (i.e., a steel
support structure to support the direct pipe installation).
We note that Dominion Energy is not requesting take incidental to
the detonation of munitions and explosives of concern or unexploded
ordnances (MEC/UXOs) during the effective period of the regulation.
Information Solicited
Interested persons may submit information, suggestions, and
comments concerning the Dominion Energy's request (see ADDRESSES). NMFS
will consider all information, suggestions, and comments related to the
request during the development of proposed regulations governing the
incidental taking of marine mammals by Dominion Energy, if appropriate.
Dated: September 12, 2022.
Kimberly Damon-Randall,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-19964 Filed 9-14-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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